


Upload Mischief

by FantasyPunchPunk



Category: One Piece
Genre: Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Based off of the anime not the manga, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Island of Magic, Magic, Magic Pirate Ship, Magic-Users, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Panic Attacks, Reader-Insert, Reccomend Reading This Only If You've Watched Past The Sabody Arc, Sentient Magic Pirate Ship, World Traveling, mentions of grief, more tags to be added as the story progresses, no spoilers that way, speaking of, the Reader is a magic-user too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9704621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyPunchPunk/pseuds/FantasyPunchPunk
Summary: It's been three years since you managed to have a fantastic adventure in the world of One Piece thanks to the mysterious powers of your friend. But after a tragedy that forced him to send you home while he remained trapped there dying... You had a difficult time recovering.And now, just when you're on the right track, you find the source of his powers waiting for you at home on the kitchen counter.Looks like One Piece isn't done with you yet.~Welcome, New User!Please enter your name to continue...~You knew you should seek help, talk to someone, but what would you tell them? Yes, your de- Someone left you a magic apple that let you see everything as code to manipulate, the same powers he used to have and so now you wanted to break down in tears every time you saw this power altering things because you saw him smiling at you reassuringly with a mouth full of blood every time you did? Oh, and did you mention he was the boy that disappeared three years ago without a trace?White was a good color on you but you didn't think straight jackets were very flattering.





	1. Just One Bite... Okay, Maybe More

**Author's Note:**

> If this seems familiar there's good reason. I've posted this story before under the same name, but that was a very rough draft. For those of you who have read that version, thank you so much for choosing to read this again, but don't mention anything that happened in the earlier version in the comments because they would be spoilers! 
> 
> And thank you to all of my new readers for choosing to read this at all!
> 
> Now, without further ado...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions of grief over a deceased loved one and a small panic attack.
> 
> Please take care.

You stared at it in horror, keys clanging to the floor, bag falling from your shoulder to the ground with a heavy thud. It sat there innocently, so _unassumingly._ That bright yellow fruit with swirl patterns on its skin.

" _It looked just like a golden delicious. I didn't even think anything was weird until I realized how_ awful _it tasted!_ " There's a laugh, _his_ laugh, echoing through your mind. _His_ smile appeared before your wide eyes.

They got even wider as they stayed locked on that fruit. You wanted to scream, you wanted to run away and burn your house down with that _awful, evil_ fruit. But you only whimpered pathetically and sunk to the ground alongside your dropped belongings, staring at that. . . _that. . .!_

Devil fruit.

~

You ignored it. You couldn't think of anything else to do. It sat there for days in the fruit bowl on your kitchen counter, the other fruit being inadvertently avoided in your resolution to stay away from that which brought up a past you had been trying _so hard_ to get over. You had been doing really well too, but five years of self-therapy and silent coping, because who else would believe you, were all down the drain because of a weird looking fruit. God, you were pathetic. Every time you looked at the thing you felt like crying.

How it had even gotten there was still a mystery to you. At one point you even entertained the idea that he had delivered it to you from beyond the grave but you dismissed it. Even if he was a ghost he wouldn't have had a way to travel back here.

~

This was ridiculous. It had been almost a month. You had to clean out the other rotten fruit from around _that_ one, using a pair of tongs so you wouldn't have to touch it, and now it sat in an empty bowl without a single sign of it going bad because you had chickened out of throwing it away with all the others. It was your only link to... _him._ You still can't say his name.

You sat in a quiet little cafe, staring down at your coffee. You had spent almost every day of this past month out of the house, away from it. The rest of the time was spent holed up in your bedroom, writing. You still had to make money, after all. And you had barely slept knowing _that_ was in the next room, hence the coffee.

But the fruit was a constant presence in your mind, along with its previous owner, and no matter how much you left the house, you never went far from it. Even the cafe you were in now was only a few blocks away from your apartment.

You stared down into the disposable cup, filled with a bunch of sugary nonsense to perk you up and enough caffeine to keep a sloth awake for a week. The whip cream had sunk into the brown depths and lightened the color just a bit. You swirled it around to make it even.

This was ridiculous.

You stood up, slipped on your coat, picked up your coffee and headed out. It was time to go home.

~

It wasn't in the bowl.

Your eyes stayed locked on the empty fruit bowl as you slowly sat your empty coffee cup down. You didn't know whether to be relieved or wary so you settled for a mix of both as you cast your eyes over the remainder of your kitchen and your living room. It wasn't anywhere in there. You went to your bedroom and when you looked over to your desk, there it was. Between your writing. . . and your laptop. You narrowed your eyes at it. It sat there patiently.

You took off your coat and flung it and your purse onto the bed. You went into the bathroom and scooped up a hair tie, securing all of your hair away from your face and out of the way. You kept your shoes on, you learned that lesson long ago, and sat down in the chair at your desk, ready. For what, you didn't know. He never really went into detail about what happened after he ate it, just that it tasted terrible. You paused before you went and got a bottle of water, just in case, and sat back down again.

You stared at the fruit for a long while. What were you doing?

His smile came to mind again, this one awed but content. His brown eyes were trained on you. " _I really wish I could share this power with you, (Y/n)._ "

You stared at it a bit longer, remembering.

Your heart heavy with sorrow, you picked it up, and took a bite.

Then another.

And another.

Until there was nothing left but the core.

You stared at the core, confused. Was it really just a weird looking fruit? You didn't--

And then the taste hit you.

You dropped the core as you gagged and coughed violently.

 _God_ , that was- You couldn't even-

Even your thoughts were halted as you desperately tried to get the taste off your tongue. Your eyes fell on your bottle of water and you grabbed it, chugging down the whole thing. It helped, but not nearly enough.

The taste got knocked to the back of your mind as a loud static-y buzz took over your hearing. The buzz turned to a high-pitched ring and your hearing ping-ponged back and forth between these two sounds at random intervals. You recognized it as the sound that old dial-up modems made and as soon as you made the connection a name, a name you recognized, made itself known to you.

Net Net no Mi. The Net Net fruit.

You were now an internet woman.

Your vision tinted green and a black window lined with neon green popped up in front of your eyes. You blinked rapidly but no matter how many times you did it didn't go away.

 

**Welcome, New User!**

**Please enter your name to continue...**

 

There was an empty text box directly underneath that and you looked at it in confusion until a small cursor popped up. When you moved your eyes it went wherever you looked and you suddenly knew what to do.

You looked at the text box and the cursor followed. You then said aloud, "Click." And a different cursor, this one indicating you could type, blinked to life. You then said each letter of your name and they appeared as you spoke them. You only spelled out your first name and when you were done, you said, "Next."

Another window popped up in place of the first and the neon green letters appeared one at a time, like they were typing themselves out.

 

**Welcome, (Y/n)!**

**Before we get started, there is a message for you from the previous user,**

 

The letters of _his_ name got typed out and you choked back tears. He left you a message? He could do that? As if to answer your questions, more text appeared in the window.

 

**They left you this message and the fruit itself to you using the inheritance app. The terms of this app activated 'three real world years' after their death.**

 

'Three real world years' looked like it was inputted by _someone_ other than the... fruit's program, you guessed you should call it? Did he put in the time delay?

"Open message," You told it, and though your voice was shaky it followed your command.

 

 **"(Y/n),"** It typed out. And you had to swallow back a sob because it was like he was writing to you directly. **"I'm going to die soon- Well, if you're reading this then I'm already dead. This thing popped up telling me I can leave my Devil Fruit to someone the next time it grows back. I-- ugh. I'm going to leave it to you. I. . . I'm really sorry the last. . . the last time you saw me had to be like this. Please. . . don't let this ruin One Piece for you. Keep loving it. . . for me. Trust me,"** You could just see that smile of his, _god._ **"And keep watching for the both of us. . . As my nakama, keep going on adventures for me. (Y/n), I love you." End of message.**

 

By the time your eyes reached the last letter on the window, your cheeks were sopping with tears and the window was replaced by another before you could even attempt to read it again. The text in this one reassured you somewhat.

 

**This message has been saved. You can look at it at a later time.**

 

The text disappeared and more popped up.

 

**For now, you should get acquainted with your apps.**

 

The window disappeared and you were left with the sight of your desk in front of you. Everything was still green, so you waited. Sure enough, a small green loading wheel appeared to turn a few times and then three blocks slid onto the screen. Of them, two were bold, with the other faded to be just barely visible against the transparent background.

The faded one was first and had a little picture of a folder with a little arrow next to it, indicating it was going somewhere.

You think you know what that one was, you had a pretty good idea anyway, so you looked at the other two.

The second one had a picture of a blocky arrow pointing up, the one on the right had what you were pretty sure was a medical cross on it and it was this one that caught your attention.

"What does this one do?" you murmured, looking at it interestedly.

A mini window popped up below it in response and you flinched back in surprise. It did nothing to put distance between you and the display and you made note of that as you leaned back in, again, useless, but an automatic response, and read the little green letters staring up at you.

 

**System Repair & Update (Recommended)**

**Fixes all current issues with the operating system and makes new updates available!**

 

You looked at the box with just the arrow. "Then what does that one do?"

 

 **Upload** \--

 

You only read the name of it and you already knew what it did. How could you not? That's the word that- that changed your life.

You definitely weren't ready for that yet. For now, you looked at the Repair and Update app and with a blink the cursor reappeared.

"Run."

The app icon moved like it was clicked and then all of them disappeared, leaving you with your green-tinted desk. The loading wheel popped up and spun cheerily and you rolled your eyes, idly noting that it was green wherever you looked.

The wheel shrunk away and you tensed up violently when pixels dominated your vision.

No, you can't- You're not--

A window popped up and the pixels faded behind it.

 

**Update complete!**

 

The window shrunk and your apps appeared again, there were more this time but you hardly noticed over the rapid beating of your heart and your heaving chest.

"Exit! Close! Escape!" It's the last one that worked and the apps faded away as the green in your vision receded to a normal color scale. You leapt up from your desk and shoved your coat and purse off the bed and onto the floor so you could crash into it, breath hitching as tears started to flow down your cheeks.

Pixels. Th- the pixels--

You screeched as the apple core on your desk dissolved into them and quickly turned away from it onto your other side as you devolved into full on sobs. Your entire body shook in the fetal position.

~

It had been a few days since then and you were still too anxious to do anything with your abilities. You thought doing this, doing what that damn apple wanted and eating it, would somehow, well, not fix everything you weren't that naive but maybe make things better. Instead it had gotten worse, your first anxiety attack in three years and you still had that jittery 'the world's gonna crash down around you' feeling even now.

Again, you weren't naive. You knew you should seek help, talk to someone, but what would you tell them? Yes, your de- Someone left you a magic apple that let you see everything as code to manipulate, the same powers he used to have and so now you wanted to break down in tears every time you saw this power altering things because you saw him smiling at you reassuringly with a mouth full of blood every time you did? Oh, and did you mention he was the boy that disappeared three years ago without a trace?

White was a good color on you but you didn't think straight jackets were very flattering.

God, this never would have happened if you never-- Your thoughts were derailed as you remembered his words.

_Please. . . don't let this ruin One Piece for you. Keep loving it. . . for me. Trust me._

You'd only read it once and you already had it memorized because you heard it in his voice as you read.

_Keep watching for the both of us. . ._

You looked up from where you were agonizing over what to write, or how to even do it, and glanced at your laptop. You stared at it for a second, then sat your writing aside and pulled it in front of you. You opened up your files and went to your downloads. They were still there, some you'd seen and some you hadn't, you had liked to download ahead so you could binge watch.

You looked at them for a minute, then when you made up your mind you opened up your favorite download site and queued up a few more episodes. While that was going you got up and headed for the shower.

A half hour later you exited with a cloud of steam in your most comfortable sweats and went to the kitchen, grabbing the most unhealthy snacks you had in the cupboards and fridge. You plopped down in your desk chair with an overflowing armful of delicacies but paused, then dumped them onto your bed, dragging your laptop with you.

Download complete, you settled in to watch... you think this was called the Water 7 Arc.

**[Update 1 Complete!]**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.


	2. Girl Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get some motherly advice.

You ended up watching a lot more than that. Taking breaks for bathroom and snack trips and got supremely annoyed when your exhaustion prevented you from understanding what was going on and you had to sleep. It had been a week and you were in the Sabody Archipelago Arc getting extremely pissed off at the slave traders when there was a knock on your door.

You froze and for one irrational moment you panicked that you had not written anything for your publisher before you remembered you sacked your dick of a publisher two years ago and started self-publishing. You had no friends, you made sure that no relationship went past being friendly acquaintances. That meant one thing.

Your mother was here.

You scrambled to pause the episode and hid it behind a few tabs of writing research then stashed your snacks and empty wrappers under your bed. You scraped your rat's nest back into a ponytail as you tripped towards the door.

You opened it with a too wide smile. "Mom--!"

You were immediately wrapped in a hug and your smile melted into something more genuine as you squeezed her back. "Sugarpie! How are you?" She pulled back and looked you over. "Have you been eating well? You're always so skinny."

She didn't comment on you wearing sweats or not having bathed in a while, attributing it to your writing. She was a painter so she understood that this was a state you got in when you were in the zone.

You rolled your eyes. "You'll be happy to know that I just finished a junk food feast. But I haven't gotten the chance to throw everything away yet so don't look under my bed."

"Ah, quality eating." She nodded. "Just make sure you take it out before you get ants." You winced. Given how haphazardly you had thrown them under there you would have to do some vacuuming too. She came inside and sat down on your couch as you closed the door. You went and sat down beside her. "So, how goes the writing? Laying the groundwork for something mind blowing or a plot twist perhaps?"

You gave a self-deprecating sneer as you scratched at your scalp. You really wanted to wash your hair. "Hit a bit of a block, actually. I..." You decided to be honest. "...I've been thinking of him, lately."

She was immediately sympathetic. "Oh, honey."

"It's okay. It's not nearly as bad as it has been."

"If you let me contact him you wouldn't have such bad times at all."

"Mom, we've talked about this. I don't want to do that." It probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

She pursed her lips but conceded by changing the subject. "Did you want to talk about it? Your thoughts of him."

You looked down and bit your lip. "You remember he liked One Piece, right?"

"Oh, that cartoon-" Anime. "You both liked? You used to go over his house practically everyday to watch it."

Your eyes got soft and distant. "He used to get so excited over every episode. I keep remembering his smile." Which was true. Whenever the show would bring up something from past episodes you watched with him, you would pause it as you were flooded with memories of his reactions. Or you would imagine how he would react to the episodes you were watching for the first time, he had watched a lot farther ahead than you and he re-enacted his reactions for your benefit. Making these huge over dramatic "Oh my god!"s while you would laugh at him.

You smiled lightly and twiddled your fingers. "I started watching it again."

"Really?" She sounded pleased, happy for you, you realized. "That's good. You haven't for a while." The 'since he disappeared' was implied.

"Yeah... I should probably stop though. Maybe have a shower," You laughed. "And I should get back to writing--"

She placed a hand on your shoulder and you looked up. Her eyes were understanding. "Your well being comes before your work, (Y/n), always remember that. That includes your mental well being. If this helps with the loss, don't worry about whether or not you're spending too much time with it, just enjoy it and remember the good times."

You teared up and hugged her. "Thank you, Mom."

"You're welcome, hun." She squeezed you back. "It's my job to be wise, kind of." You both laughed. She then pushed you back a little bit. "But the shower thing might be a good idea." She wrinkled up her nose and you laughed harder.

"I'll get right on that. My hair itches like crazy anyway." You got up and headed for your bedroom.

It was only after you entered it that you heard, "And while you do that I'll check how you're doing with groceries."

Your eyes widened and you raced back out to stop her but by then it was too late. "Young lady, _where is all of your food?!_ "

You winced and guiltily walked back through the living room to peek in the kitchen. "Um, already digested?"

She narrowed her eyes at you and pointed back the way you came. "Shower, (full name). Then we're going to the store."

"Yes, ma'am."

~

Refrigerator and cupboards now full of food, thank you Mom, even if she was really terrifying for a second, you sat at your clear desk in clean, comfortable for a variety of activities including battle, clothes. Your hair was loose and you had a bag full of basic survival supplies strapped on your back. Your mom was right. You didn't do this because the apple wanted you to, you did it because _you_ wanted to. You wanted a connection with him after all this time because somewhere deep down you knew this would help you with his loss. Even if it meant going back to the place, the world, he died. You couldn't- can't keep living in the past.

You take a deep breath with closed eyes and when you open them everything is green. You look around your room one last time and then clench your fists.

"Apps, please." They slide into view. Like you had briefly noticed before the pixels caught you unawares there were more than there were at the beginning. Where there were three there are now six. The one on the bottom left had a picture of a circle with a dash on each of its cardinal points, like a target on the sight of a gun.

"Um, can you tell me what this one does? Please." Better to know all your weapons before going into battle, probably literally.

Another mini window pops up like last time, but this time you're prepared so you don't jump. As much.

 

**Analyze**

**Provides a basic to advanced understanding on objects or creatures within the parameters outlined by the wishes of the user.**

 

Okay, cool. Built in cheat sheet. You look at the icon in the middle on the bottom. It was faded, like the top left one, but you recognize its picture. That vertical equal sign was familiar to anyone who's played a video or some type of digital or tape music. But just to be sure. "And this one?"

The window flashes as the information changes.

 

**Pause**

**When in a malleable environment halts all processes. (Processes resume with the command 'Play'.)**

 

Matrix button. That's... actually supremely cool. Brings up a few questions of exactly what you can do with that but you'll have the opportunity to experiment later.

That leaves the bottom right icon. It was also faded and you recognize this one too. Double arrows pointing to the left. "This one too, please."

It flashes again.

 

**Rewind**

**When in a malleable environment all processes, including the user, regress. (Leaves user's memory intact and only operable once for a situation.)**

 

. . .What? But, then-- No, you couldn't- can't think about this now. If you do, you'll just chicken out again.

"Um, Mi-chan?" How do you do this? "Can you please Upload me?"

Your apps slide away out of view and a window pops up.

 

**Destination?**

 

"Uh, One Piece?"

The window flashes.

 

**Uploading to One Piece...**

 

Pixels start to fill your vision from the bottom up but you close your eyes before you can react adversely and it feels like your body is turning into fizz. When it reaches your chin you take a deep breath, just in case, and wait as your head turns to bubbles.

**[Update 2 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.


	3. Arcana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to One Piece! There's a scary old lady with a quest for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't posted anything for this for a while so a small chapter to tide you guys over.

Your body snaps together with the suddenness of a bubble popping and you immediately develop a pounding headache. The loud ringing of your ears, which you're slowly suspecting is the doing of the- your, it's yours now- devil fruit, is not making it any better. You open your eyes and blink them a few times to try to get the pain to abate. It doesn't work but the view you're presented with pushes the pain to the back of your mind.

You're standing on a long rocky beach, the waves coming just shy of your feet and you step back a bit so the water doesn't ruin your shoes, which have inexplicably turned into straw sandals. The ocean stretches out far before you into the horizon, the salt wind caressing your face, and as you look back you see there's a dense forest that climbs to the sky, moving and singing with life. Everything is still tinged neon green as your fruit is still active, but even with that you can tell things look a lot different here than they do at home, back in the real world.

Everything looks... flatter, more 2D. The trunks of the trees are definitely edged so you can pick out each one where in the real world they would sort of blend together. Even the froth on the waves as they move, the world around you looks like the painstaking work of an animator.

Something moves in the bottom left corner of your vision and you look down. Small white sentences flicker too fast for you to follow and next to them a percentage, 67%. You manage to catch 'generating backstory', 'integrating user into memories', and 'scanning and cataloging surrounding area' before you realize the fruit is carving out a life for you in One Piece.

You hold up your hands. They're animated too. They don't look all that different from the first time you saw them like this, when he brought you here. Well, not _here_ exactly. You've never seen this island before.

"(Y/n),"

You know, it's one thing to _feel_ your heart leap out of your throat, it's quite another to actually _see_ it hop out a few inches from your face, the only thing keeping it connected to you being a worryingly thin tether.

You quickly blink away the green, not sure if your eyes give anything away about your fruit being active, and worry for a second if those processes were canceled but an innate feeling, like an inner progress bar, reassures you it's still going. You turn to face whoever addressed you.

You're met with an old woman in heavy dark green robes. She stands about as tall as your shoulder with her stooped back, but her narrowed milky grey eyes assure you she could floor you in a second and you believe them. Her pink-tinged grey hair is held back in a simple bun, a few strands hanging loose over her wrinkled face. The lines around her mouth deepen as she lifts a brow and stares at you oddly.

A name comes to mind and you blurt it out without thinking. "Elder Bertie!"

The brow raises some more.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same of you, child." She walks closer and you fight the urge to flee, something about her just screams a dangerous amount of power and you're not quite as used to that feeling as you used to be. "You know the sirens wander this beach from time to time and it's almost dusk, they'll be hunting soon."

Your eyebrows shoot up before you can catch them. Sirens? As in the temptresses of the sea? "Do you think they'll really have a taste for me, though?"

She narrows her eyes at you. "They don't discriminate, you know that. Especially with all those pirates headed out to sea, just foolish blood in the water to feed their frenzy." She opens the eye closest to you wide and cocks her head. "Are you well, child? You seem... off."

"Pssh!" You flap a hand. "Yeah! I'm fine, totally fine."

"Hm." She turns and heads back to the forest and you relax. A few paces past the canopy shadows she looks around her and then back at you like you're crazy. "Well?! Are you coming or not?!"

With how irritated she sounds, you really would be crazy not to.

~

Your inner progress bar reaches 100% sometime during your walk through the forest and by then you've pulled ahead to lead and clear the way for Elder Bertie.

To your home.

Or, at least, your home in this world. It's an oddly shaped little hut in the middle of untouched forest, jungle, really, but you like the look of it in person much more than in your 'memories'. The inside is nice too, warmer than outside, even though you don't see a fireplace. You decide not to question it.

Bertie sits herself down in the most comfortable seat you have, which is the couch, like she's done it many times before, which she has, according to your 'memory'.

You reach under the right side of your work table and pull out a large, wide mug then walk over to your short shelves and pick out some dried bumble berries and spark leaves and drop them in a small bowl. You take the bowl to the window and scoop up some water from the reservoir attached to the sill outside, careful to keep the berries and leaves from falling out. The droplets on the outside of it then dissipate into steam and the bowl turns orange where you touch it, bubbles making the tea ingredients dance together frantically.

You're aware of Bertie's eyes on your hands and face but you're not unnerved because this is 'normal' and oddly enough, the... programming, you guess you should call it, is extensive enough that you don't need to act like it is normal, it _feels_ like it's normal too. The information is telling you that Bertie is not judging your magic, and manipulating the finished tea out of the bowl while pushing the plumped up berries and mushy leaves out of the liquid to stay in the bowl while you guide it into the mug, she's not scorning you for having multiple magics either. She's just watching your talent with it and missing her own magic that she lost.

You hand her the mug and sit down beside her, looking out the window as the rain comes in a renewed wave, filling your reservoir to the brim.

You feel Bertie's eyes on you again and you look back to see her raise a brow at you, tea untouched. "Nothing for yourself?"

You think of all the snacks you have stashed away in your backpack, which is now an over the shoulder messenger bag, that you threw in your room before you started her tea. "Not really hungry or thirsty right now, actually." Too anxious.

You're nervous and excited to explore the world around you. See what's new, what's the same... And then...

You frown. You hadn't thought that far actually.

"So much talent," Bertie's voice drags you back to where you are. " _Wasted,_ " she huffs disgustedly, it makes you crack a smile. "You should be doing more with your power, helping people, helping entire villages!"

"Okay."

"It's not okay to--" She stops and turns her head to squint at you. " _Okay..._?"

You smile and nod at her. "I'll help the villages with a few things."

Apparently, you and Bertie had been having this argument a lot. You don't like the people here on the island, Arcana, they shun and isolate you because of all your power. Where most Arcanians only have control over one or two elements, you have pull over them all, even the rare spiritual element which is only practiced by those in the Balance village, the one that keeps the peace between and gently guides all the others. Very exclusive, very snooty, though they try to make it seem like they're not, so yeah. You're not very well-liked. You're this island's anti-hero Avatar, you guess.

But Bertie, a Fire village woman who gave up her powers to marry the love of her life in the Nature village, rest his soul, has always reached out to you and tries to get you to give the island another chance.

The look on her face is priceless. "You," She points at you, brows furrowed low over her eyes. "(Y/n) (L/n), want to help the villagers?"

You feign innocent confusion. "Did you not want me to?"

She squints at you so hard her eyes almost disappear. "Who are you?"

You smile. "It's still me, Bertie. I just..." You look at the window, seeing rain pouring down it in rivulets but thinking of a certain porthole, also striped with rivulets of rain but is also occasionally splashed with a dark wave as a ship rocks side to side. The vision fades with a blink. "I just had a change of heart."

She's still squinting. "What's the catch?"

You smirk. "Well..."

She finally relaxes and takes a sip of her zapsting tea. "I knew it. What do you want?"

You sober, going over all the new information in your head one last quick time before you make your decision. "Teachers."

She raises a brow so you explain, "I've decided to leave the island and the sea is dangerous, as you said before. With all the pirates out there I'll have to be able to fully protect myself, and to do that, I'll need to master all the magics available to me. So I'll need a teacher for each element," You look at her and raise a brow. "The question is, will you be able to find people who are willing to teach me?"

She stares at you, mind far away as the steam from her cup rises. Her eyes dart down to her cup as she takes a drink. "I'm sure I can find someone."

"Some _ones_ ," you gently remind. "I have to master them all."

"You ask for a great deal of power, girl."

"I know, it's presumptuous," Your hands lightly clench in your lap. "But I don't want to lose anymore."

Elder Bertie finishes her tea and promptly smacks you over the head when you offer to walk her back. "Like I'll accept help from a blackmailing heathen!" And then she hollers at you to not forget that she's coming over next week for tea.

**[Update 3 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, and its people do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat).


	4. To Learn the Trade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn a thing or two about a couple different things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be one big chunk with the last chapter so if it seems like it should've been part of the last one, that's why.

When her hunched over back disappears into the shadows of the canopy, you close the door and look to your right. A huge bookshelf looms from against the curved wall. You walk over and pick up a few books as you read through the titles. History of Arcana, The Study of Magic, The Myth of Alchemy. You wonder if you can take them back with you to the real world, but decide against it. Besides the fact that the trip might destroy the books (you never really tested if you could bring something from One Piece back to reality, before), if someone managed to get ahold of these and realize they're not fiction, if whatever was in the book applied to the real world as well as this one...

Bad things. Just... bad things.

You'll just have to study them here.

You open the door right beside the bookshelf and find your bedroom. Before you only had enough time to crack the door open enough to throw your bag inside before you went to make Bertie's tea so this is the first time you get to take a good look around.

You pause and tilt your head.

Huh. A hammock.

Your lips curl up. You quickly put your books down, more like just literally dropping them, and trot to the hammock, plopping down on it-

The entire world spins and you land on your back with a harsh puff of air.

"...Ow..."

Not the brightest idea, in hindsight. But, at least you know gravity works the same here as the real world, still. You frown, still laying on the floor, looking up at the wooden beams supporting your ceiling. You have to find a different way to refer to the worlds, technically they're both real, you're just used to one more.

...You'll just call them 2D and 3D, at the risk of sounding like a weeb.

You sit up and rest your arms on the hammock, looking out the window. It's starting to rain again, little pitter patters that gradually get heavier and heavier. You hope Bertie got home okay and relatively dry. The quiet drip drop roar calms you and coaxes your eyes to half mast. You should probably get back to 3D but... the rain is so calming. It hardly ever rains where you are.

...And you really wanna try out this hammock.

You climb in, carefully this time, and cross your arms behind your head as a makeshift pillow. You let the rocking of the hammock and the melody of the raindrops lull you to sleep.

~

When you wake up it's night and the sound of rain is replaced by nocturnal birds and frogs. You look towards your backpack but decide to leave it here, it might come in handy.

"Mi-chan?" There's a low chirp that indicates your fruit is active and listening. "It's time to go home. _Download me._ "

You close your eyes and let your body turn to effervescence.

When you open them you're in your room in 3D and nothing's changed, not even the time. Even your clothes are back to normal, with the exception of your missing backpack.

And despite having that long nap in 2D you're extremely tired.

You crawl into bed, foregoing changing, and fall right back to sleep.

~

The next time you wake up it's not because you want to, an early morning sunbeam has decided to be an asshole and sneak past your blinds to spear through your eyelids. You sit up with a belly-deep groan and wipe at dried tears and drool crusted at the corners of your eyes and mouth. It's only after you shower and have three cups of coffee under your belt and a fourth in your hand that you feel up to being awake.

You blink and everything goes green. No idea if this'll actually work but you have questions so... "Mi-chan?" A chirp. "Are there any... drawbacks to the Upload app?"

A window with a question mark as its header pops up.

**Upload App Side-effects**

  * **Dizziness**
  * **Dissociative tendencies**
  * **Extreme drowsiness (minimum 12 hours sleep plus however long you've spent uploaded to fix)**



Another belly-deep groan. "Thanks, Mi-chan." You blink away the green.

You walk back to your bedroom from the kitchen and look towards your computer with a heavy sigh. You sit down and type 'long voyage boats' but, after waiting an eternity for one of the result pages to load and fighting a nasty headache caused by your drowsiness to scroll through the seemingly _endless_ models and types of boats once it actually has loaded, you decide to just fuck it and wing together a design of your own. You do look up some basic boat construction so you don't completely fuck up.

You look between the schematics on your screen and your blank sketching paper with building dread and like you've heard a siren's song your attention is drawn to your latest draft of your new book. You literally toss your sketchbook over your shoulder and decide to work on that. Pfft, what the hell's procrastination? Sounds delicious.

You spend the rest of that day in a creative fog, idly recalling the forest you walked through in 2D every once in a while to flood yourself with inspiration.

~

This time when you wake up there's paper stuck to your face, a crick in your back, and your stomach is downright _furious_ with you for only having coffee the entire day before. Thanking your mother profoundly for her foresight of your self-negligent ass, you weakly stumble to the kitchen for a small snack that'll keep you on your feet long enough to make an entire meal.

You spend this day very much like the last until at some point you're hit with a fantastic idea and look up computer coding. You read various articles and watch a few videos, even ordering a couple 'this is how you do this, dummy' books, until your eyes dry out and your stomach is screaming at you not to forget it again.

When you have a stomach full of surprisingly instantly there pasta, you land face first into your pillow and don't move for at least eight hours.

~

The rest of the week is a remix of the previous events. You actually get pretty far in your manuscript and you can practically hear your wallet screaming a sarcastic thank you. You understand the basic layout of a boat way faster than you expect and go through a few pages sketching out some blueprints of some boat designs before you realize you don't need a boat, you need a ship and scrap the whole lot of them. You breeze through basic coding, amazingly, as you were never that proficient with computers before and now you're working through understanding some more advanced codes, already getting a few ideas on some of your own upgrades you can code in your devil fruit, when you realize it's been exactly one week since you've been to 2D.

You hop to your feet, scattering papers and making your empty coffee cup skitter precariously in a circle. " _Shit_ , Mi-chan, Upload me to One Piece please!"

**Uploading to One Piece...**

You're too harried to remember to close your eyes against the sight of the pixels, let alone be freaked out by them. You materialize in the main room of your house and before you have the chance to be relieved about that, a fresh wave of panic washes over you as you hear knocking at the front door that seems to have been going on for a while if you judge the loud echoes of them to be frustration correctly.

You rush to the door and quickly pull it open. When Elder Bertie sees you she raises a brow. You follow her gaze down to your pajamas, your 3D-style pajamas. You almost freak out until you remember the clothes in One Piece are practically the same as the ones in the real world.

"Did I wake you?" She's eyeing your hair now, what's in your hair?

You remember you have a mechanical pencil stabbed through it to hold up a sloppily twisted bun and you yank it out (painfully) and fling it out of sight across the room.

Bertie follows the path of the pencil through the air and when it lands with a small clatter she looks back at you with that eyebrow still raised.

You smile innocently.

She continues to stare at you and you finally remember she's asked you a question. "Oh! Uh... yeah, I fell asleep doing some reading." You had actually done that quite a bit this past week.

"Hm." She steps forward and you dutifully step to the side while rolling your eyes with a fond quirk to your lips so you don't get bowled over in her pursuit to enter the house. "So I've been asking around for some teachers for you."

You perk up, closing the door and moving around her on the couch to start making her tea. "Really? Any luck?"

"With the Nature Village? No. They seemed to take amusement from your seeming incompetence though, even if everyone else your age is still learning as well."

The heat in your palms dims momentarily, the bubbles in the bowl slowing, before you bring the temperature back up. "I see."

"But, I managed to find an acquaintance in Fire Village that would be willing to teach you in return for some ingredients that can only be found in this part of the forest."

You almost lose hold of the freshly brewed tea right over your foot, but you keep your focus and quickly manipulate it into a cup. "Fire Village? Bertie, that's... that's practically on the other side of the island."

"Losing your taste for adventure already?"

"I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about you! Did anyone go with you there?"

She levels a glare at you. "I'm perfectly capable of making the trip to my home Village, (y/n)."

"You and I both know there are creatures on Arcana capable of devouring even the most competent of magic-users, let alone non-users."

"And there are even more dangerous things out at sea." She glares harder and you relent, coming over and handing her her tea as you sit. "You forget I have more at my disposal than just my dead fire magic. I'll be perfectly fine on my own. But if it makes you feel better, I always tell my neighbors if I'll be going somewhere far. I'm more worried about you than I am myself." She peers at you over the rim of her cup. "Do you even have a ship?"

"I'm going to make one." She spits out her tea.

"At least I don't have to worry about you dying on the end of some pirate's sword, you'll sink before you get past either of the coves!"

"Your faith in me is so heartening, Bertie."

" _Elder_ Bertie, show me some respect."

She leaves after she finishes her tea and tells you that a man named Meo will expect you in four days with a few hefty bunches of lactenine flowers and confir fruit, both with their thorns.

When she's gone, you raid your closet, finding some comfortable lagen-look style pants and shirts in your favorite colors and pull on one of each then slip on some sturdier-than-you're-used-to flats.

Just before leaving the house you look to the left of the door where there's a map of the entirety of [Arcana](https://fantasypunchpunk.tumblr.com/post/171619055936/the-map-i-drew-for-one-of-my-one-piece-x-reader). The Fire Village really is practically on the other side of the island. From Nature Village you'd have to pass Big Mountain and go through Balance before you can reach Fire, and the journey there takes three days, let alone the return trip.

You live about a day from Nature so under normal circumstances you would need to spend the entire time limit Elder Bertie, or maybe it was Meo himself, gave you traveling to reach it in time, but you have a devil fruit up your sleeve.

You blink and bring up what you've been thinking of as your Main Menu, vision tinting green. You click on the first app in the top row, a bright green now where it was faded before, and the picture of the file and arrow enlarge while the other apps fade away.

A question mark appears beside the arrow.

"Transfer me to just outside Fire Village in Arcana, please."

You don't close your eyes when the pixels appear this time either, your heart only beats quicker than it did before and you can't tell if it's from fear or excitement.

***

You materialize at the edge of the forest where it meets the meadows of the East side of the island. Within the shadows of the monolith-like trees you look out at the veritable sea of grass that sways and undulates with the wind. It's tall, but not too tall, coming up to your waist and it's thanks to this you can see the Fire Village not so far away.

You're at a distance where you can see the entire Village from end to end. Fired clay and brick dwellings interspersed with the more finely crafted glass buildings that sparkle in the sunlight with a variety of colors. There's a fireplace in every one and a cloud of smoke kissing the rooftops is ever-present like a permanent bank of fog. The grass surrounding the Village is dried out to a golden straw in some places and is burnt to a char in others. Cries of pretend battle belted by small voices are carried to you on the wind.

Smiling, you transfer yourself back home.

A quick trek around the forest near your house with your Analyze app powered up leads you to discover a bunch of pale orange flowers blooming from vines hanging high up in the branches of one tree and small sickly green bumps buried within the bark of another tree nearby, the lactenine flowers and confir fruit. You decide to put off getting them until the last second before you leave.

Going back to your house, you change back into your 3D pajamas and Download yourself back home, promptly passing out for a sixteen and a half hour's sleep.

The next day and a half you spend drawing up plans for your ship, spending a lot of time on the figurehead to ease your artistic itch. It comes out as a beautiful stoic woman with long hair as equally as flowy as the gown that molds her to the ship. You name her Sarah, signing her name under the design. The rest of the ship turns out equally as beautiful and you make a note to yourself that you'll have to ask for a _lot_ of wood. Probably from the Nature Village, once you get around to training there.

A good rest later you Upload yourself to 2D and transport to Balance Village on the third day of your deadline. After picking up two huge baskets of lactenine and confir, of course.

The center of Balance Village is set right on the divide between the Eastern meadows and the boundless forest that takes up the entire West and North of the main island, and it bleeds out in both directions with nothing to fear from the meadows and not fearing anything the forest can hide. You arrive on the forest side, the side you would have arrived on had you traveled by foot, and appear close to the edge of the Village, since, with the extremely tall trees, no one would have been able to see your approach from a distance had you decided to put the effort into doing so.

You gently move the branches of a tall teal bush that's giving you 'be gentle with me or else!' vibes and take a deep breath before stepping out into the packed earth of the Village street.

Balance is nothing like Fire, even though there are some of those fired brick and glass buildings scattered around, and even a few fire-magic users. You haven't seen any of the other Villages so far but your Net Net fruit has given you memories of them. So you can pick out the rock structures from Ruin Isle, the oversized beaver dams made out of mud and plant matter from The Swamps, the trunks of trees reshaped with nature magic into homes (a technique almost solely utilized by Nature Village). And on the meadow side that you can just barely see through the trees are the reinforced cloth tents woven on Desert Isle, the water reed wigwams of the Water Village, and the metal and steel fortresses found in the Port Village (the only thing not found on Arcana naturally).

The only thing missing are the caves in Big Mountain where the Air Village resides, something even the air magic-users themselves rarely use with their nomadic tendencies, but that would be difficult to accomplish with the even ground Balance is on.

And it's really the _only_ thing missing. Magic-users of every kind wander the streets, chatting, laughing, bartering goods to each other. You have to skitter out of the way of a child wearing the drooping fabrics of Water as they're not paying attention to you in favor of collecting water from the air and splashing it back at the raised arm veined in glowing embers of a Fire child, the two screeching with laughter as it immediately evaporates into steam.

Honestly, it's not that different to what you'd see if someone from one Village traveled to another, because there's no conflict on Arcana. There's just a lot more diversity in Balance, and a feeling of tranquility that you can't really find anywhere else.

Well, there is until some of the Villagers catch sight of you.

All the laughing and talking trickles to a stop and smiling eyes narrow into accusing question.

'What are _you_ doing here?' The query stabs at you from every angle with every step you take.

Some straighten themselves to a taller height as you pass, assuring themselves they're still better than you as they sneer you up and down. Others roll their eyes like your mere presence is a nuisance to them personally.

A few aside from them... they eye you with uneasy wariness. They're the ones who discomfort you the most. Jealousy and disdain are easy to deal with, it's fear that's truly dangerous, so you give those people a wide berth to not agitate them.

Even with all the negative stares, you keep walking. What should be fresh rejection and sharp isolation is scabbed over by acceptance. Your devil fruit is bringing up false memories of times you would go to Villages to get supplies that you couldn't find in the forest and get these same looks. Time after time after time. And it relays how 'you' felt each time, the stark sadness you were expecting at first slowly dwindling into the resigned miserableness you feel now.

It's amazing. Not your being miserable, of course, that sucks. You mean the devil fruit. The sheer area of its effect... I mean, come on! Your emotions? In the past (technically) and the present?

The fruit that...

Your fruit, is amazing.

"If it isn't the girl with many talents," someone calls with fake cheer.

You stop walking and actually focus on what's in front of you instead of your thoughts.

The two people who come to a stop in front of you remind you of 3D's Tibetan monks. Long, loose clothes with the shirt and pants being one piece in a beautiful purple ombre. Their feet are bare but they have hair where actual monks would be bald, and in some rather fashionable hairstyles, at that.

Your fruit provides you with instantaneous recognition. Balancers, the ones in charge of Balance Village.

Rather than the element based powers most Arcanians have, Balancers constantly emit a sense of well-being that's aided by their ability to come up with a solution to almost every problem presented to them. In addition to that, things in nature (animals, weather, the elements themselves, etc.) go out of their way to not harm them. The sky above them is always clear and sunny, lava itself would cool long before they could get anywhere close enough to burn themselves; hell, if they actually left Arcana to go to an island with an active volcano, by the time they got there the last of the ash would've already cleared from the air and the island would have sprouted and bloomed plants to welcome them with all the ripe fruit they would need to live there for however long they wished.

Incredibly, they're not as terrible as you might think they would be. The well-being they emit isn't a kind of mind control and they don't use their Norse god level invulnerability all that often either, and never for their own benefit. Only when someone actively attacks them.

They're not bad people.

But.

Their referee-like mentality makes them take on a 'higher role' attitude and that simultaneously amuses you and _pisses you the fuck off_. Like the smirks the two that are standing in front of you currently wear.

"What brings you to Balance?" the elder of the two finishes for the younger.

You don a smirk of your own. "Don't worry, I don't plan to stay for long. I have business in Fire, but it's getting late," You look off to where the sun heads for the horizon, and then back to them. "I was hoping to find a place for the night, if it's not too much trouble?"

They look to each other and then back to you with a smile.

"It's no problem at all!" says the elder.

The younger motions for you to follow them as they both turn back the way they had come, "Come on! We'll show you the perfect place."

You follow them, ignoring the juxtaposition of the looks of adoration the villagers give the Balancers and the looks of disdain they give you.

Any sort of response they want, they want from the 'you' created by the Net Net fruit, not you. This isn't your life, not really. The only reason you're here is to prepare yourself to be out at sea. If you're going to have any sort of life in this world, it'll be out there.

You narrow your eyes up at the blood-orange sky.

If you want revenge, it'll be out there too.

**[Update 4 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Link to the map of Arcana in case you didn't see it: https://fantasypunchpunk.tumblr.com/post/171619055936/the-map-i-drew-for-one-of-my-one-piece-x-reader
> 
> I got inspiration for Meo's name from Sokka's great praise to someone in the fire nation while in disguise "Flameo, sir. Fla-me-o." Hence, Meo. (From Avatar: The Last Airbender.)
> 
> And the name Sarah for the ship's figurehead is from the name of a certain house's AI from the show Eureka. (More about why in later chapters.)
> 
> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, and its people do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat).


	5. Sea Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sea is dangerous, to prepare is a journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 3 updates, nicknamed 'the Prep chapters'. Stay tuned.
> 
> *Manners by Icona Pop starts to play in the background*

They end up bringing you to an Inn that’s a lot nicer than you expected. Probably the older Balancer’s doing. He only ignores you with an air of uncomfortableness while leading you, where the younger keeps throwing you skeptically judgemental looks. Like he’s wondering if you truly had an innate ability to balance.

The Innkeeper, a non-user with mouse brown hair, auburn eyes, and a round face with freckles, is hesitant to let you stay until the Balancers request it of her.

“It would be my pleasure,” she says, side-eyeing you.

The Balancers leave and she escorts you to an empty room.

“It’s not the best but I hope it’ll be enough,” She hesitates. “This might be rude, but it would probably be best if you stay here. I’ll have my daughter bring up some food and hot water for a bath.”

She’s reluctant to meet your eyes but you smile anyway. “I understand. Thank you for letting me stay here.”

She does look up at that. “...You’re welcome.”

~

You’re messing around with the coding of your fruit when you hear the door quietly open behind you and you close out of it. The young girl in the doorway flinches when you turn, almost spilling the stew and water on the tray she holds.

She lifts it in answer to the questioning brow you raise. “I-I’m here to deliver this… a-and the tub outside,” she stutters. “I wasn’t sure if I should get you hot water or not because I’ve heard you have pull over heat and most fire magic-users prefer to heat their own water to a temperature they prefer--”

She squeaks when you cut off her nervous prattling gently, “I’ll be fine heating it on my own.”

“O-oh,” she breathes in relief, probably expected you to snap at her, poor thing. You wouldn’t put it past her that it’s happened before, her whole body shakes like a mouse ready to flee a panther.

The service industry is tough in any world, you guess.

“W-where should I…?” She lifts the tray again.

You point to the desk by the window. “Over there is good.” As she moves to put it down, you study her.

She can’t be more than fourteen, and given what the Innkeeper said, this should be her daughter but there’s no resemblance except for demeanor. She has stark white hair, which isn’t unusual for anime characters but concerns you given the color’s symbology, and red eyes. She’s pale too, so you would say she’s albino but her eyes almost glow pink in a way that tells you that’s their true color and not just an absence of it.

After setting down the tray, she hustles out the door, leaving it open, and you hear a small grunt of exertion and the scrape of metal on the wooden floorboards just beyond it.

You leave her to it, not knowing if she’ll take offense to you offering help or not, but gradually feeling guiltier and guiltier with every noise of strain she makes. To distract yourself, you rise from the bed and move over to the stew she brought. It’s thick with brown gravy, and bits of carrot, onion, and potato float alongside marbled beef. There are other things on the tray too. The water, of course, a soft-ish roll of bread, an apple… You pick it up and roll it in your hands, thinking.

There’s no monetary system on Arcana, it’s all trade. Instead they ask for small tasks of labor. Things being the way they are, there’s no way for you to give the girl a tip for her hard work but…

You look down at the apple as the sounds of the tub being moved stop.

“Excuse me, Miss,” she breathes heavily and you move aside so she can take your food off the tray and put it on the desk, tucking it under her arm once it’s empty. “What time would you prefer I come back to get the dishes, Miss?”

“I’d prefer if you pick them up in the morning, actually. I’d like to bathe after I eat and then I plan to head straight to bed.”

“O-oh, yes, of course,” She steps back. “I’ll be right up with your bath water then.”

“Hey,” you call out before she can leave.

She freezes and turns to you stiffly.

“Here,” you toss her the apple.

She scrambles with her tray but manages to catch it, and she blinks up at you.

You smile at her softly. "Make sure you get some rest, okay? And if you wait a little bit on the water, by the time you come back I’ll have finished this,” you gesture at the stew, “so you can take it, alright?”

“Y-yes…”

“Good,” you nod, turning to get started on the stew. “And thank you.”

“...You’re welcome.” The door shuts behind the girl as she leaves.

~

The next morning, the innkeeper, Mrs. Skehan, refuses any help you offer in return for the night’s lodgings. “You’re a good girl, dear. I know that now, but other people don’t. If word gets out about you working here, even temporarily…”

“It’ll be bad for business,” You nod in understanding. “It’s fine, you have your family to take care of after all.”

She smiles warmly at you. “See, such a good girl. Here,” She hands you a wicker basket, and when you open it you find a thermos, a few bread rolls, and a bunch of apples. “Leftover stew from last night’s dinner, bread baked fresh this morning, and some apples my daughter handpicked herself. She’s always been shy, you know?” She frowns worriedly. “And work at the Inn doesn’t treat her as kindly as I would like,” She smiles at you again. “You’re the first person who’s shown any concern for her without being coddling except for her siblings,” She looks down at the apples. “I suppose that’s her way of saying thanks.”

You smile down at the apples and then at Mrs. Skehan, bowing low. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Of course! You come back anytime, dear, there’ll be a room waiting for you. And good luck with your travels!”

And travel you do. For the second half of your little journey, there’s nothing but meadow. And rather than taking any risk being seen transporting, you prefer walking the long way. It’s when the sun is nearly at its zenith that you finally reach Fire.

Your reception here is much the same as it was in Balance and luckily for you it only takes asking just eight people where you can find Meo-san to get an answer. When you find his home, a brick place decorated with bright reds and golden yellows, he stands on his porch waiting for you with crossed arms.

“Right on time. Come on in, then,” He waves you inside. “So? Do you have what I asked for?”

You hold up the baskets of lactenine and confir, placing them on a near table. “Right here.”

“More than I was expecting,” He eyes the wicker basket you had briefly sat down with the others. “And that is…?”

“My breakfast, actually. And lunch. I’m afraid I have to return the basket, if that’s what you’re vying after.”

He harrumphs, turning to the flowers and fruit you brought to assess what he can do with them. “What exactly do you hope to gain by mastering fire magic?”

Your curious eyes that follow his hands flicker dimly at the question and you purse your lips. “There’s something I want to accomplish…”

He pauses at your somber tone and stops fiddling with the produce to give you his full attention.

“I know it will be difficult, and I’m not stupid enough to believe I can do it on my own.” You clench your fist. “I’m going to need help, but I don’t want to ask it of anyone unless I know I can offer them my protection in return, because the things I aim for are not for the weak-hearted. So I need to be stronger, for them.”

“All this for people you haven’t met yet?”

You meet his eyes. “Yes.”

He straightens and walks over to you. “You know, we have a saying in Fire.” You tilt your head. “‘Flare bright but burn no one, unless dear ones come to harm…” He flashes a vicious grin. “Then turn them to ash.’” He holds out his hand. “I look forward to teaching you, (Y/n).”

You grab and shake it firmly with a beam. “Please take care of me.”

~

Three. And a half. _Weeks_.

Three and a half weeks of,

“Lukewarm!”

“I said ‘ablaze’! Does that look ablaze to you?!”

“More focus! You should have pinpoint accuracy.”

You’re grateful to Meo-san for mentoring you, but you swear to god, if the man barks any more orders at you…

And you’ve barely been able to sneak back to 3D to rest. Wouldn’t do for you to suddenly collapse into a three and a half week and twelve hour coma and subsequently die from a combination of starvation and dehydration. Luckily, you’ve managed to sneak back a coding manual and have been tweaking Uploading’s limitations. Nothing too radical yet, you don’t want to accidentally ruin the app and not have a way to One Piece or back home, but you’ve gotten the minimal amount of rest down to three hours instead of twelve. Which helps, because if you don’t put in a certain code before downloading yourself back to 3D, 2D’s time proceeds normally without you. At the same rate as 3D, which is good, but you still end up missing for that time, so yeah.

You’ve come back to a furiously worried Meo so many times, you’re almost tempted to keep a sticky note of the code posted to your forehead so you don’t forget to say it before Download.

But one day, after hours of him frowning at you while you help him with his welding (without gloves! Really scary the first time, but so cool), Meo nods somberly and tells you, “You’ve learned all that I can teach.”

A tearful (on both ends) goodbye and a promise to write later, you’re back in Balance to ‘pick up supplies for your trip home’. Gotta keep up the facade that you can't just teleport anywhere you know the location of.

Mrs. Skehan lights up when she opens the back door, the one she snuck you out of not long ago, to see you. Returning her smile, you bow low in respect and request.”I’ve come to ask if I might spend the night--”

Mrs. Skehan grabs you by the hand and pulls you abruptly out of your bow and into the Inn. “Of course you can, child! No need to ask so politely.”

Dizzy from the sudden yank, you aim a smile at where you think she is but in reality you’re a few degrees off and end up cheesing at the wall. Mrs. Skehan has the decency to laugh quietly. “Thank you.” You hold out the basket on your arm and her eyes drop to it curiously. “I brought back the dishes you loaned me a while ago.”

She laughs, “Dear, I didn’t loan them to you, I gave them to you! The Inn has so many dishes already, a few won’t be missed.”

You blink, “Well then, if you’re really sure,” You send her a teasing smile. “I’ll be happy to take some cleaning off your hands.”

She guffaws, ”Saw right through me, didn’t you?”

“I just know that would be my main motivation, too,” you chuckle.

“Ma?” You both turn, but instead of seeing the girl with white hair that you expect when the feminine voice called to their mother, you see a taller girl with long pink hair tied into a ponytail in the doorway. She’s older, and holds herself with the confidence of a young woman who has almost finished blossoming into her full potential. The same red eyes that the girl with white hair had stare back at you with barely, if at all, veiled suspicion and distrust.

“Glynda,” the girl makes a face when her mother says her name, but you suspect it’s more in dislike of the name itself than any hesitance to have it known by you. “Yes, dear? What is it?” Mrs. Skehan asks, smiling curiously.

Glynda looks between you and her mother with narrowed eyes, and the comfortable smile that was on your face drops a little. Ah, someone who still hates you, you _were_ starting to think that things couldn’t quite be this easy.

“Just wondering if you were okay,” Glynda answers, then sends a small glare at you. “We don’t _usually_ receive guests from the back door.”

“That’s because there are special circumstances in this case, honey,” Mrs. Skehan motions to you. “This is (Y/n) (L/n),” Glynda’s eyes widen and you realize she didn’t know who you were until just then. Mrs. Skehan motions to the girl. “And (Y/n), this is my daughter, Glynda.”

Glynda turns angry and accusing eyes on you but you only smile politely and bow a little. “It’s nice to meet you, Glynda.”

She scoffs at you, rolling her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Glynda Sue-Ann Skehan!” her mother chastises immediately, looking like she’s tempted to walk over and slap her upside the head. “You remember your manners! This is an honored guest to our Inn!”

“Honored?” Glynda spits, throwing an arm out towards you, “She’s the island’s abomination--!”

“ _Glynda!_ ” Mrs. Skehan roars, face red in embarrassment and anger.

“It’s fine!” you interject quickly, holding your hands out placatingly and drawing the two’s attention. “Mrs. Skehan, your daughter is obviously not comfortable with me staying here so I’ll find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

“Like the other Inns will let you stay either,” Glynda sneers and Mrs. Skehan calls her name again sharply.

“That’s true but I’ll probably find someplace I won’t be a bother. I really only came here to return these,” You hold up the picnic basket of dishes and Glynda promptly snatches it from your arm and points to the door.

“And now you have. Goodbye.”

Okay, ouch. But fine, you turn to leave but stop when a gentle hand grabs your wrist.

“Just a minute, (Y/n),” Mrs. Skehan tells you softly and then turns fiery eyes onto her daughter along with a warning finger. Glynda flinches back from her and you do as well in tandem sympathetically, wincing a little. “I don’t know who _you_ think runs this Inn, young lady, but I know for damn sure it’s not you.” Your eyebrows fly up at her language, having never heard her swear before. “You don’t get to decide who or who doesn’t stay here, you don’t get to kick them out when I have obviously invited them in, and you sure as hell do **_not_ ** get to speak rudely to them, am I perfectly clear?”

Scowling down at the floor in rebellion, Glynda quietly mutters, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. And since you were so eager to take those dishes back, you can bring them to the kitchen and wash them out.” Glynda turns to do her mother’s bidding but stops when she calls out to her, “ _And_ every other dirty dish piled up in there. Tell the busboys they get the night off.”

Glynda whips around, basket bumping into her hip harshly. “ _What?!_ But that’s not--!” She cuts herself off at whatever look her mother gives her and stomps off with her lips pressed thinly together in frustration.

When she’s out of sight, Mrs. Skehan sighs. “I’m sorry you had to hear that, dear.”

You shake your head, denying the apology. “Parenting doesn’t allow for any breaks, it’s nothing to be sorry for.”

She nods, smiling at you thankfully. And then her smile drops and she gives you a stern look that makes you suddenly nervous. “And you, young woman,” She drops your wrist to wag a finger at you and you hold up your hands in surrender. “So easily backing down in the face of a _teenager_ , you need to stand up for yourself more!”

“Thank you, ma’am, but I do.” She raises a brow. You smile ruefully. “I just know when to pick my battles, that’s all.”

She huffs, “Well, you’re staying here and that’s the end of it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She narrows her eyes at you.

“What? This is a battle I have no wish to fight!” you chuckle out.

She laughs with you as she leads you up to the room you stayed in before.

~

It’s not long after that you hear a voice outside your door.

“...didn’t last time!” It’s quiet, and worried. Then there’s a hesitant knock.

Raising a brow, you call, “Come in!” When the door opens, you smile. “It’s you!”

The girl with the white hair smiles back shyly. “I brought dinner.”

“Sure, set it over here.” As she puts down the tray, you tell her, “Thank you for the apples last time. You picked the tastiest ones.”

She beams. “You liked them?”

“I did.”

She glows at the praise but her eyes drift away as the smile soon drops. She fidgets, looking like she wants to ask you something.

“What is it?”

She looks up at you and then back down, biting her lip. “Where…” Her voice is so small you have to lean closer to hear. “Where did you go?”

“Where did I go? You mean after I left here?”

She nods.

You look down at your hands. “I went to learn about my magic.”

“All of it?” she blurts, then smacks a hand over her mouth, worried she offended you.

You smile. “Just the fire this time,” You let a flame briefly flare to life over your palm, making her eyes widen in awe, before you extinguish it. “But I intend to learn about all of it, yeah.”

“Glynda can’t even do that yet…” she whispers, eyes still fixated on the past spectacle.

“Your sister’s a fire magic-user?”

She nods softly.

“Well, she certainly has the temper for it,” you chuckle, and she giggles with you.

A shadow moves in the doorway and your eyes drift to it. “Did your friend want to come in too?” You ask her, and the shadow freezes.

The girl’s wide eyes dart from you to the doorway and then back before she hisses softly to the figure, “I _told_ you she would notice!” The door creaks open further and the figure steps into the room to reveal a boy about the same age as the girl with dark green hair and the same red eyes everyone in this family seems to share. The assumption of him being related is just that, an assumption, but it’s confirmed when the girl says, “This is my brother, Tyler.”

He stays quiet and glares at you silently. Someone must have heard that you got their sister in trouble or it’s more of that personal hate towards you- yay!

You flash a smile at him anyway, earning nothing but that same hard stare, and turn back to the girl. “Come to think of it, I never got your name.”

She shuffles her feet. “Amelia.”

“Amelia,” you smile. “It’s nice to meet you, you know, formally.”

“Nice to meet you formally too.”

“Why?” You and Amelia blink and look at Tyler, who’s frowning at you with more curiosity than hostility now.

“Why what?” You turn slightly in your chair to show you’re listening.

“Why are you learning about _all_ of your magic?”

You tilt your head, considering how to phrase this… “Do you have magic, Tyler?”

He frowns further. “Yes.”

“And how much do you want to learn about it?”

He scrunches his face, looking at you like you’re stupid. “Everything I-- oh.” He blinks in realization.

“Not so difficult to understand, right?”

“But wouldn’t it make more sense to just master one? Be an expert at it and expand it for other people, the whole island!”

“Is that what you want to do?”

His mouth quirks to one side in a straight line. “No. I wanna be a doctor.”

You nod, mind whirring. “Noble. Anything you want to specialize in?”

“I’m not sure, but I just wanna help as many people as possible so I don’t think I will…” he trails off, staring at you and you just smile at him. “Alright then, who is it _you_ want to help?”

No hesitation, “My important people.”

He raises a brow, “Your family?”

“You could say that, yeah,” You nod.

“What are they like?” Amelia asks.

“I don’t know.”

They both cock their heads. “You don’t know your own family?”

“Not yet. I haven’t met them.”

They both mull this over.

“How will you know they’re your family then?” Amelia asks.

“Because they’re important to me.”

Tyler looks at you like a science experiment with an unexpected growth. “You make no sense.”

You bark a laugh. “Thanks, kid.”

“I’m not a kid, I’m fourteen.”

“Ah yes,” you say dryly. “My mistake. Please forgive me.”

Amelia giggles and Tyler gapes at her in betrayal as you smile at her.

“C’mon, ‘Melia, let’s go downstairs.” Tyler turns and swiftly leaves the room, you can near his retreating footsteps down the hall.

“Okay!” she calls after him. “I’ll be back in an hour to pick up your plate, okay?” She asks you, and you nod.

You make sure to clean your plate before you send it back with Amelia. An entire Inn’s worth of dishes made you feel sorry for poor Glynda so you try to make it easier on her.

Evidently, that consideration was either unappreciated or unnoticed, as the next day when the entire Skehan clan sends you off, Glynda glares at you venomously the moment she sees you until you leave. Which you manage to almost completely shrug off as the same type of looks follow you all the way out of Balance, and when you’re out of sight you Download yourself home, purposefully foregoing entering what you call your ‘time staying’ code.

You sleep deeply for an entire day. When you wake up, you nibble while reading through a carpenting book you picked up from a nearby hidden away bookshop that you hadn’t noticed until that very day. The shopkeep turned out to be very knowledgeable on building ships, surprisingly, and didn’t hesitate to tell you everything he knew about every part of the process and you soaked in every word avidly. You now had a much better idea of what you want for your vessel and how to build it, but it never hurt to be extra prepared. You have a penchant for wanting things done perfectly the very first time you do it. Incidentally, this goes hand in hand with extensive planning.

Around midday, you stop reading and gulp down a filling meal then Upload yourself to One Piece. You appear in the same place you downloaded yourself a day and a half before. You open up File Transfer and move yourself just outside of Nature Village.

The people here throw you the occasional suspicious glance but ignore you for the most part, familiar as they are with Elder Bertie and her connection to you, which she isn’t ostracized for, thankfully. The way to her treehouse is artificially familiar and you have no trouble finding it, as it’s one of the only ones whose leaves are permanently red-orange even though the entire island is tropically hot year-round. It’s her tree’s attempt to help her feel more at home.

You knock on the door and she opens it. Both of you smile when she registers it’s you. “I’m back. Got any tea for me?”

You choose not to offer her any help to make it, not wanting to get smacked and told she’s not an invalid, and simply thank her lightly when she hands you yours while sitting next to you with her own cup. You regale her with your training adventures with Meo-san, and she listens to your successes and failures with a small smile and a nostalgic twinkle in her eye. When you finish your tea, she kicks you out, ordering you to get some rest and letting you know she’ll be by in two weeks with another teacher for you. There’s vitriol in her eyes when you open your mouth to ask just how far she’s going that it’s going to take an entire two weeks for her to visit again, so you wisely snap your mouth shut without a sound and wave as you leave to do as you’re told.

When you get back to your 2D home you crack open _The Study of Magic_ , excited by its heft rather than daunted, and caress its fragile pages with awed care.

~

Water Village is your next place of learning. You nearly have a fit when Bertie tells you. Unlike Fire, Water actually _is_ completely on the other side of the island. But she only gives you a look when you gape at her in disbelief. The woman is trying to drive herself to an early grave, you swear.

Luckily for you, however, Port Village is not too far from Water. Which is good because it’s the only place on the entire island you can buy and commission metal goods, _and_ metal itself, which is what you need. So you plan a small detour before you arrive in Water.

Compared to everywhere else in Arcana, the Port is the most welcoming of your presence, which is to say that everyone there completely ignores you and goes about their business. It’s the least stressed you’ve felt walking within any village and you relish the anonymity.

The bell above the door rings when you enter a small Blacksmith’s shop and you notice right away that the front desk is unattended. You hear the familiar sounds of metal hitting metal and see tiny orange sparks drift around in a dark room visible from a door just beyond that front desk so you choose to wander and peruse the goods on display while you wait for the blacksmith to be done. You had learned while training with Meo that interrupting a busy blacksmith is a _very_ bad idea, regardless of whether you’re fireproof to some extent or not.

The most prevalent of the goods are the armaments. Swords sheathed in barrels by the tens or hung carefully on the wall if they’re higher quality. Guns lined on their sides on shelves, barrels shining in the small amount of light that comes through the window. Shields leaning against walls or the sword barrels, their colors and house sigils painted vibrantly.

Alongside them is the more delicate metalwork. Pendant cradles and rings bare of stones, about a hundred of each, all in different styles. And despite being outnumbered by the weapons, it’s clear that these are the more valuable of the goods, encased behind locked glass cases.

The shine of one catches your eye and, now curious, you wander closer.

It’s a simple ring, a plain circle with empty claws ready to covet the treasure placed in them. But more than the design, it’s the color that stirs your heart.

Silver.

_“Silver, really?” he goads teasingly, eyeing the trinket you hold up admiringly with mock derision._

_“I happen to love it,” you sniff._

_“But what about gold?” He holds up a handful of the stuff from the pile of your combined stolen loot, wiggling his eyebrows enticingly._

_You crack a smile at his antics but snub the offer. “Too overrated. Especially with it’s symbology with first place,” You sneer lightly and then look back down at your silver ring with a small smile. “Second place is a lot better, I think. You’re still just as skilled as the person who won first, but you don’t have to deal with as much attention and pressure.” You grin at him. “Plus it’s prettier.”_

_He hums doubtfully but smiles, taking the ring from you._

_You look at him curiously as he slips it onto the ring finger of your left hand. “If that’s how you feel then I’ll just have to shower you in it.” Your face lights up in a blush as he kisses your hand over the ring and he grins against your fingers, brown eyes sparkling up at you._

_You sock him in the shoulder, still bright red, and he laughs as he’s knocked over onto his side._

Your reflection frowns sadly at you as the rings winks from within the glass case. It’s nowhere near the same ring from back then but the color is almost the exact same. Your hand comes up halfway to the glass, and you wonder if it’s the same kind of silver, maybe?

“Was it a lover?”

You jump back from the case, hand moving to cover your heart in surprise as you look behind you. Silver eyes glint out from the shadows of the corner of the room and a young man steps forward. His black hair and dark clothes melt with him out of the gloom and your heartbeat slows when you realize it’s not some apparition and just a kid with a basket on his arm.

He tilts his head and you remember his question, asking your own with a furrowed brow, “What do you mean?”

“Who that ring reminds you of,” he nods behind you at the case, “Was it a lover?”

His laughter echoes in your ears and your heart aches. “Yes.”

He blinks and tilts his head again. “And they’re gone now.”

Your eyes narrow in apprehension and your devil fruit reacts unbidden, opening Analyze and scanning the young man in front of you. Its results placate you into relaxing. “An Empath, huh?”

He nods.

You quirk a smile. “Was I that lost in thought?”

He nods again. “You miss them. Terribly.”

You nod. “I do.” After a moment of thought, you tell him, “He was called John.” That’s what he went by in One Piece, anyway.

The kid’s brow furrows and he opens his mouth but before he can speak someone beats him to it, “What the hell are _you_ doing here?!”

You turn and standing in the doorway of the forge, soot-smudged and sweat-soaked, is a confused and angry Glynda Skehan.

You blink in the face of her ire, and bow. “Nice to see you.”

“The hell it is!” She jabs a finger at you. “What are you doing here?”

You stand straight from your bow slowly and raise a brow at her. “Does your mother know you swear so much?”

“Answer the question!” She totally doesn’t, then.

That one brow still stays high. “I’d like to buy some steel.” She eyes you suspiciously but doesn’t immediately start yelling rejection, so you continue. “I don’t know how much exactly but I know it’ll be a lot. I’m working on a bit of a project, so--”

“The same one that you’re running around humiliating yourself in front of great teachers to become a powerhigh villain for?” You blink at her incredulously (Powerhigh villain? Really?) but she continues. “I don’t think so. Take your evil schemes somewhere else--”

“Lyn.”

Her focus shifts from you to the darkly clad young man and she blinks when she realizes his presence. “Eric.” Her eyes drop to his basket. “Oh, is that our lunch? Hang on, lemme just kick out--”

“She’s not evil, Lyn.”

You and Glynda blink at him and she frowns, “Wha--”

He gives her the most deadpan look you’ve ever seen from anyone, animated or otherwise. “Seriously, she’s not evil and you need to learn to stop being so overprotective.”

Overprotective?

She splutters, “I am not _overprotective_!” She points at you. “ _She_ just--”

“Has honest intentions,” Eric finishes, and she snorts in irritation. “Come on, Lyn. What would Pyr-san think of you turning down some honest money?”

Port Village, being the only place for other islands to visit and trade on Arcana, is the one place where you have to pay for goods instead of trading services. Luckily, you had already swung by one of the places you and John had stashed some of your loot under the Captain’s nose before you came here. That might’ve been part of the reason you’re so nostalgic right now.

“Fine. But that’s _only if_ she can actually manage to--”

Without preamble, you open your satchel and pull out a bag of gold weighing about ten pounds and plop it on the desk with a solid thunk, coins tinkling against each other inside.

“...pay.”

Eric snorts back a laugh behind you and you smile politely.

She glares at you. “Well, Pyr-san is the only one who can accept this kind of high-quantity order--”

There’s a loud hiss of steam from the forge and from the ensuing billowing cloud of the stuff hobbles out an old man with huge goggles that take up half his face and soot-streaked white hair that stands on end on top of his head. His gold tooth flashes as he aims his grin around at everyone gathered. “I heard money and then my name, where is it?”

Glynda can only gape at the small man so Eric is the one to point in the direction of your bag of money and you watch in amusement as his goggles glint when he catches sight of it. He quickly hobbles over and opens it and lets out an impressed whistle at what he reveals while Glynda gapes wider when she catches sight of all the gold.

Pyr’s goggles turn to you. “I’ll give you whatever you need,” he says seriously.

You smile, “Wonderful,” and seal the deal with a handshake.

**[Update 5 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, its people and Elders (High or not) do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat), the Reader's teachers, Mrs. Skehan, her children, and Eric.


	6. Boat Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter what grief or loss takes place, most of life flows on all around us, as though nothing's changed. At some point in our sorrow, we each make a choice to sink or swim. There's no alternative.
> 
> -Tammara Webber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2/3

After training in Water Village you return to your 2D home to find an enchanted letter waiting for you. A bit of a surreal experience, having your mail float in front of you as soon as you open the door. The envelope tells you it's from Meo-san and it opens by itself, the letter coming to rest in your hand.

_(Y/n),_

_I have a friend on Ruin Isle that I write to occasionally and when I told him of you and your goals, he offered to be your next teacher._

_Send me a reply so I know whether or not to tell him to go suck it._

_-Meo_

You tap the paper a couple of times and it clears, then you pick up a pen.

You and Meo send letters back and forth, talking about his friend, and when you deem them trustworthy enough you send a letter to Meo telling him he can tell his friend to expect you. You then set out on foot to Nature Village.

Elder Bertie gives you her blessing, "The hell are you asking _me_ for?! Get a move on, girl!" and so after checking back at your residence for any more replies from Meo, which there aren't, you recharge in 3D and then begin your journey to one of Arcana's satellite islands, Ruin.

Your fruit hasn't given you much data on any of the satellite islands, or much of the North of the island at all really, in terms of false experience, but you know _of_ them and how to get to them so that's enough for you. However, without data there's no firm grasp of the area in your mind for you to Transfer to, which leaves you on foot the entire trek to the boats that ferry people to and from the Isles. Which is fine, really. Just a little nature hike.

Three days and fifteen wild animal attacks later you're on a boat to Ruin, finally, and you're much more concerned about Elder Bertie's trips to the other villages. A few minutes of thought later and your concern switches to the wild animals, remembering that aura Elder Bertie had around her when you first met her, which you now realize you could only feel because she had just come out of the forest where those wild animals are with a calm air and not a single scratch on her.

That woman scares you sometimes.

At the end of your training in Ruin, your teacher tells you of a woman on Desert Isle who'll take any student she deems worthy. Unfortunately, she'll only judge potential students in person.

You trade locating a hidden well for an enchanted letter and send it off to Elder Bertie with your new whereabouts and catch a boat back to Arcana. You trek across the North end of the island, from the West to the East, and catch another boat to Desert.

When you finally find the woman and ask to be considered for her tutelage, she dubiously blinks her long pale lashes that are the same color as the sand around the both of you and despite the rest of her face being covered in cloth, you can tell she's confused with what you said. She tells you that she accepts any and all that are willing to learn and she turns no one away, and you curse you stone-magic teacher's love of (peculiar) practical jokes.

When you finish your sand-magic training and arrive back in Nature to fill Bertie in on your progress, she sequesters you into staying by telling you she managed to convince Nature Village's High Elder themself to teach you earth and growth magic.

You leave the belongings you have with you at Bertie's home and the two of you make your way to the tallest and oldest tree alive in Arcana that's planted right in the middle of Nature. At its roots is the oldest person you've ever seen, so old you can't distinguish whether they're a man or a woman, not that it really matters. Their skin is so wrinkled it blends into the bark of the tree behind them and moss has long made its home upon them, draping low off their head, shoulders, and folded limbs, suggesting that they've been in this one place a very long time.

Bertie motions for you to sit and you do so, mimicking the High Elder's cross-legged form and you turn your head to watch her leave as she does so silently, not having said a single word since being in the High Elder's presence. You're startled when you turn back to them, as where their eyes were closed before they are now open and serenely locked on you. The sight of them takes your breath away. One is a deep rich brown like the nurturing, steadying earth and the other is a bright vibrant green of a young sprout that's just broken through the soil to unfurl its tender leaves to the sun. But more than their color it's the overwhelming knowledge, the experience in these very old but youthful eyes that humbles you deep to your core.

They stare into what seems to be your very being for a moment before they slowly close them, and compelled by something you can't name you wordlessly do the same.

You don't know how long you sit there, listening to the forest move and breathe and _live_ around you, but eventually you hear a voice. It's small, and quiet, but this is misleading. It asks you deep, hard questions about yourself and without moving your mouth you answer them as best you can.

Eventually you realize this voice is the oldest tree _and_ the High Elder. The two of them have spent so long together that they share an inner voice, and so you're not just being taught by the highest esteemed member of this village, you're also being taught by one of Nature's monoliths too.

The questions gradually get more and more personal, targeting your fears, your faults, your darkest desires... Even John. You're asked so many things about John and it's a pain and a relief to answer, to just have the opportunity to remember happily and cry openly at his loss, tears leaking from the corners of your unopened eyes.

They ask about your goals, your ambitions, your _dream_...

And when you open your eyes, all but one question answered, the earth has reformed into a strong pillar under you and has raised you almost out of the canopy so you can see the trees in every direction and small vines and flowers have sprouted out of it to curl around your legs and entwine themselves in your fingers and hair. You ask the earth to lower you back down and it does so carefully so you don't topple over, and you gently prod the plants to let go of you, which they do reluctantly.

You look at the High Elder and though their eyes are still closed they have a small smile and you know.

Your nature-magic training is complete.

After a deep, respectful bow to the High Elder you walk back to Elder Bertie's home where she welcomes you back with a smile and a cup of tea.

In the middle of a sip she tells you you've been training for a little over a year and you promptly spit it out.

You hear nothing of what she says after that and practically inhale your tea (which you actually do a couple times and you only avoid choking with heavy coughing and a bit of water-magic) hurriedly thanking Bertie and wishing her goodbye as you rush out of the Village and Transfer home.

It's with several days and long nights of very careful, very nervous coding that you finally risk Downloading yourself back to 3D and let yourself fall asleep with a deep breath of acceptance for whatever happens after.

You wake up a few scant hours later and practically cry with relief. You now only have to sleep a minimum of an hour for every year you spend in One Piece, but that was way too close a call. You give yourself time to come to grips with the fact that if you hadn't have learned what you did with coding, if you'd never messed with your fruit's coding before, if only _one character_ was off... you would have died.

You shake and wail and sob, and then you wipe your eyes and reach for a book.

This won't happen again. You'll have the minimum amount of rest down to one minute for every ten years if you have to sweat and bleed an ocean to do it. You've already cried enough for it.

When you next Upload yourself to One Piece you're a self-credited pro at coding _and_ hacking and you've made a few changes to your fruit's apps for the better. But you still need a bit of time before you're quite ready to return to training your magic.

You exit your home and catch sight of the vines that have started to grow on the outside of it, remembering that you had purposefully neglected to put in the staying code when you left One Piece, not wanting this world to be held back in any way, even if it was only temporarily, by your death if it happened. Despite what the growth would lead you to believe it's only been a few months. The plants on Arcana just seemed to grow... magically fast, which makes sense.

You spend a bit of time coaxing each vine into loosing its hold on your home and relocating them to the nearest tree, but they seem happier with the change so that lifts your spirits a bit.

You debate with yourself just where you should go next after that and after some time, Transfer yourself outside of Nature. On your way to Bertie's a few villagers give you acknowledging and even _friendly_ nods, confusing you. But after about the fifth one you put together that it must be because you've trained with the High Elder that they're giving you any kind of respect, although it's only a select few while others still side-eye you distrustfully.

When Bertie opens the door she says nothing about your absence and waves you inside. You both share each other's quiet company with a cup of tea. She's not your guardian and you're an adult, you're responsible for yourself. Bertie is only your friend and has no control over your actions whatsoever. But she was worried. You can see it in the thin set of her lips, her pinched brow, and lightly trembling hands. But with every minute of you being there, the quiet reassurance that you're okay and doing just fine, the tension slowly drains out of her until she breaks the silence with a sigh of relief.

She doesn't say anything after that either, which surprises you a little. You thought she would ask if you're ready to go back to training, or _something_ , but she must see something that tells her you need time.

So you sit and have tea with Bertie.

When you leave, you Transfer yourself outside of Balance and head for the Skehan Inn. Again, you receive a few sparse polite and friendly nods and this time you're truly at a loss. The people of Balance have no reason to treat you like this so why do they? Instead of returning them like you did in Nature, you openly broadcast your confusion and wariness, hoping someone might explain it to you but no one offers any conversation and you make it to the Inn with your questions intact.

You knock on the backdoor and hear a scatter of hurried footsteps before it opens to a slightly taller Amelia, who beams as she sees you and hauls you inside with an exuberance to match her mother's. She excitedly rambles about what's been happening around the Inn while you were gone and about how her sister has been teaching her archery and how she's developed a fascination with maps _and_ how she's been getting training for her magic just like you--

You pull her to a stop to keep her from dragging you out into the dining area of the Inn and when her happy chattering comes to a stuttering halt you reassure Amelia that it's great that she's getting magical and combat training and you didn't pull her to a stop because of that, it's because you don't want to tarnish the Inn's reputation by being seen here.

She looks at you in confusion and then slowly asks whether or not you've heard...? When you send her a mirroring confused look she lights up and tells you that lately you've been talked about in a better light in Arcana. In every Village you've trained in you've been nothing but kind and helpful in between lessons from your teachers and travelers have spread word about your new attitude to the ones you haven't visited yet. Your teachers are also big advocates to your good character, and the fact that you were trained by Nature's High Elder, one of the most discerning with their students (which surprises you to hear, you never got the feeling that you would be turned away), has made you the rumor of interest throughout the island.

Of course, there are still those who have their suspicions about you, Amelia says nervously, but for the most part you're not viewed as an outcast anymore. And she looks ecstatic about this, probably as much or more than you should be but, you just shrug and thank her for telling you. Your stance about this island hasn't changed. The only reason you're here is to prepare yourself to be out at sea. The people's changed opinion of you just makes that easier, which you are grateful for.

Your blasé response over the news wilts Amelia's enthusiasm over it, though. And a pinch of guilt nags at you until you smile and admit that it'll be nice to not have to sneak in and out of the Inn anymore, which makes her perk up again and she resumes dragging you through the Inn. This time you don't hinder her pace or path and complacently follow.

She pulls you into the dining room, like you suspected, and over to her mother who is circling the tables with a smile and asking her patrons if they want anything to eat or drink. When she sees you she beams as hard as her daughter did and engulfs you in a warm hug, shocking you into going still. She gushes into your shoulder about how glad she is you're back while lightly rocking you back and forth and you slowly smile and return her hug with a small laugh, telling her that you're glad to see her too.

She tells you to sit at a table and she'll be right back and while you wait Amelia tells you about part of her training that's unusual for most people to pursue due to its rareness and latency, Beast Summoning. She glances around surreptitiously and then demonstrates on a small scale. Holding out her delicate hands, a glowing white circle grows on the table and a ghostly butterfly flutters out of it to dance around in the air. She smiles when your eyes widen in impressed awe and looks back down to the circle while biting her lip. It fades away, but the butterfly remains and flies over to land on her finger.

You applaud her and grin when she startles at a few other patrons joining in. She blushes and stutters then ducks her head with a wince when her mother reappears and scolds her for summoning in the Inn, dismissing the butterfly with a quick wave of her hand. Her mother soothes her harsh words by putting down a plate of warm food in front of her, and does the same for you and herself. The three of you sit and chat over dinner, Mrs. Skehan smiling, you laughing, and Amelia gesturing animatedly.

And something within you is soothed and warmed.

You stay at the Inn for the night, but during the late hours you Download yourself, opening your eyes to early morning sunlight. You had Uploaded yourself early and you're glad you did. Reaching over, you grab your cellphone and call your mom, asking her to come over.

The dinner with Mrs. Skehan and her daughter had reminded you that it's been a while since you've seen your own mother. Between your training in One Piece, educating yourself with coding and ship building, and your actual paying job (which you have kept up with even with everything else) you've been really busy, but you haven't forgotten her once. Her voice still echoes in your mind with advice she gave when you were little during times of struggle and lately that's been happening more oft than not. But you still haven't told her about the devil fruit.

You don't plan to, either. Not because she wouldn't believe you, she would. Stranger things have happened in her life and yours than being able to visit a fictional world through the power of a mystical fruit, though that's definitely in your top five, if not hers. It's because of a promise you made to John. He had asked you not to tell anyone about this and you won't, not even now when it's technically your secret to tell. He had no idea how much you value promises and now probably never will, but you intend to keep it. Your mother would understand if she knew. You know, when she finally stopped worrying, which is another reason you don't want to tell her.

But even though she doesn't know doesn't mean she can't help you.

~

The next morning at the Inn, you wish Mrs. Skehan, Amelia, and Tyler, who keeps giving you strange looks, goodbye and head out with Glynda to Port Village.

"I still don't trust you."

You glance at the redhead but she keeps her eyes forward as she wades through the waist-high grass slightly ahead of you. "That's fine." This time you don't acknowledge her glance, but you do shrug, uncaringly. "I have no need of it."

She huffs scornfully and walks faster and you keep your own pace, not worried about losing her while in the meadows.

Pyr-san welcomes you in his shop with a wide grin that shows off more gold teeth than you remember him having before. He follows you around offering tidbits on various things you inspect and nods enthusiastically every time you offer him a generous price for whatever you hold up. You end up getting twenty different swords, ten different types of guns (a couple each), and about fifteen shields. A few are ornamental but the basic structures have promise enough that you can rebuild them. You also get a large quantity of iron and--

Pyr blinks, blue eyes huge behind soot-free goggles. "Cannons?"

"Yes." You hold his eyes, conveying your seriousness.

He scratches at his white soul-patch and raises a brow. "Well, I have some... but they're rather heavy..."

"How many do you have?"

He leads you into a back room separate from the forge and it's not lighted properly but with the sun that shines into it from the other room you quickly count twenty eight barrels of heavy duty cannons, each one longer than you are tall and hundreds of times heavier.

"I'll take them."

He blinks again. "All of them?"

"All of them." You nod sharply, pleased, and look over them as your schematics for your ship run through your mind.

"O-kay. I can deliver them--"

"Oh, that won't be necessary."

People give you plenty of strange looks as you walk back and forth from the docks with a multitude of swords strapped to your back and your satchel full of guns with a few muzzles sticking out, pushing huge cannons one by one off and into the ocean. On the last trip you have a bag of shields with you too and have inadvertently gathered a crowd. The last cannon drops into the water with a hollow metallic thud and a huge splash that you hop back a bit from, wary of getting wet. You ignore the murmuring villagers as best you can and hold out your hands, palms vertical to the ground and facing the water. You take a deep breath and start moving them, fluidly, strongly. Pushing them _up_ , flowing _up_.

The cannons, all twenty eight of them, rise up as a single entity, water sluicing off of them and held buoyant by the constant current you're creating. It's dead silent as you keep your hands moving and carefully step out onto a cannon. It dips, but a little faster movement keeps it, and you, afloat. You change the motions of your hands from solely flowing up, to up and forward. With the sound of waves crashing against a metal shore, the cannons are directed by the water to sail away with you. You only hope that you can keep this up until you can pass by Nature Village and then you can just Transport everything to Grey Cove.

At the docks, Pyr guffaws as he slaps Glynda on the back. "That's some friend you got there!"

"She's not my friend," she says dazedly, any anger she might have had at the comment overpowered by her incredulity of this...this...

"Amazing person?" a voice whispers in her ear and she turns to scowl at Eric.

"Don't try to pull that crap on me." He raises his hands in surrender and she shoots him a look before looking back out at where you're trying to wrangle back a stray cannon. "She's nuts."

"Amazing people have a tendency to be that way."

She frowns but says nothing, watching you try to keep your strange metal school of fish together.

~

At Grey Cove, you unravel the schematics you had drawn up of your ship, Sarah. Named after the figurehead because you can and because if everything works out as you hope, you don't want to refer to her with some long, complicated name. A couple of sprouts redirect themselves to keep your blueprints in place and you smile at them in appreciation, feeling their happiness to do it tingle across your fingers as you pull them back from where the plants now hold your plans down.

Your eyes run over the lines you had drawn to give you an idea of how you need to build each part and looking between your schematics and the materials you have, you realize you've forgotten something.

Wood.

A tiny insignificant detail that's a _little_ bit important, you think sarcastically to yourself as you traipse out into the forest.

You wander. Projecting your need out inobtrusively and keeping a metaphorical ear out for an answer. It comes in the form of a tree larger than any you've seen in 3D but only on the bigger side of average for Arcana. They tell you they'll be happy to be of use to you, they've always wanted to branch out farther than just this island. You cut them down and drag them back to Grey Cove.

And then you build. Magic swirling at your fingertips with every carve, every smelt, every careful placement. Hours turn into days that turn into weeks that turn into months. Hunks of wood are molded into basic shapes that you refine into finely detailed works of art. Every part is carefully, lovingly crafted with the whole in mind, infused with your anticipation to be out at sea. Ocean waves and hordes of vines are utilized as cranes, rocks from the beach are crushed into sand that melt down into glass. From the keel, the hull takes shape and the spaces are filled in with gunports and portholes. You raise the Main and Foremasts with the mizzen the last to go up. And the final piece of your pirate ship is put into place, the figurehead.

If you look at her dress long enough, the ripples in it seem to undulate in the wind, the same effect happening with her hair. Her arms are stretched back behind her to curl around the forepeak and her eyes are closed, a stoic but serene look on her face.

You look up at her with a smile, breathing hard while wiping the sweat from your forehead. "Hello, Sarah."

One side of her wooden lips curls up into a half-smile.

~

The next morning, you're out with Sarah on her maiden voyage and she's holding up excellently. No leaks in the hull or along the portholes below the waterline, the sails unfurl beautifully, the rudder heeds the steering wheel as it should, everything's perfect. Surfacing from under the deck, you look out and notice you've gone a fair distance from the island and smile, calling out to Sarah that she can handle the return trip home on her own.

The ship comes to life around you as you sit down to watch, sails change position, ropes curl themselves up and tie themselves off, and the entire ship creaks as the wheel turns the heading back to the island. Everything is seamless and you grin again as you pull out the newspaper to read on the way back. Like this, you don't have to worry about a crew for a little while longer, you just have to be aware enough to call out directions to Sarah.

The front page headline has you blinking in surprise. There's a picture of Luffy showing his respect at the grave of- wait, Whitebeard is dead? When did that happen? You don't think you've watched that far into the show yet. When you get back to shore you'll have to input the staying code and Download yourself to have a One Piece marathon. It's kinda stupid to not be aware of what's going on in this world if you want to survive, after all.

Your musing are cut short by an irate enchanted letter that seems angry that it had to search for you when you weren't at home. You give it an unconcerned shrug and it gets even angrier, shoving itself in your hands, making you wince and stick a finger in your mouth to soothe the papercut you just got. You open the letter and see it's from your water-magic teacher. They have a friend in the Marshes that would like to teach you.

You lower the letter, looking out at the sea as you think. Marsh-magic, huh? Unconventional, certainly, but with how random everything is here, and you're talking about the entirety of One Piece, every advantage is welcome.

You spend the rest of the sail home writing to her about your new teacher and when you land, you have their name and when they'll expect you. You tell Sarah to go into chameleon mode and the colors of her surroundings bleed onto her wood until she disappears completely and you grin again, really glad you included that spell when building her simply for the fact that that's _so frickin' cool!_

You enter the staying code and Download yourself home.

~

Ace had reminded you so much of John. It's like losing him all over again.

You spend a lot more time in 3D than you thought you would, curled in your covers with a box of tissues nearby.

~

A lot longer. Your mother shows up at the door eventually, magically knowing when you're upset, and she spends a few days with you. Cooking for you, offering you company and comfort. You tell her that you're fine, one of your favorite characters just died, that's all. And it's the truth and a lie. She knows that too, but she doesn't ask, just nods and hugs you tighter.

**[Update 6 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, its people and Elders (High and not) do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat), the Reader's teachers, Mrs. Skehan, the Skehan siblings, and Eric. So does Sarah the ship, as she is sentient, but her personality comes in later and the small Isles; Ruin, Marshes, and Desert.


	7. ...Mental Prep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Above all else guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."  
> -Proverbs 4:23
> 
> "Open your book of life only to few people. Because in this world very few care to understand the chapters, others are just curious to know"  
> -Anonymous
> 
> "Your heart opens and of course you're completely panicked because you're used to guarding this organ with your life."  
> -Leonard Cohen
> 
> "Keep guard over your eyes and ears as the inlets of your heart, and over your lips as the outlets, lest they betray you in a moment of unwariness."  
> -Anne Bronte
> 
> "To lose someone you love is to alter your life forever... The pain stops, there are new people, but the gap never closes... This hole in your heart is the shape of the one you lost - **no one else can fit it.** "  
> -Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/3, soooo... yeah. I'm so glad I finally got all this typed up. (Truth is these three chapter have been done for a while and I just forgot about them, hahaaaa...)
> 
> And I kinda lost it with the quotes. I was just looking for one that was the best fit, which is the last one, but the others were so good I had to include them too.

A few days later, after your mom leaves when called by one of her commissioners (only after heavy convincing that you'll be fine), you return to One Piece more motivated than ever. All because of the future Pirate King.

Ace's death crushed him, almost literally, but he got up again and sought to strengthen himself to make sure he never loses another important person to him again. The similarities to your own situation aren't lost on you and you've spent a lot of time wondering if there are even more people, in 2D and 3D, who have gone through similar experiences. How many have decided to better themselves in memory of their loved ones and how many succumbed to their guilt and grief. You're not naive enough to believe the former outweighs the latter and you're stubborn enough to be determined to not be a part of that number. You'll work harder, get smarter, be greater. For John. He deserves nothing less.

So you finish your training in the Marshes, and with the nomads on Big Mountain after learning Elder Bertie arranged for an air-magic teacher when she caught word of you training again, until finally, the only place left for you to learn on Arcana is Balance.

You kneel before Balance's High Elder with your forehead pressed to the ground pleadingly. Around you are the villagers, now rooting you on silently in your quest where before they would have laughed, and amongst them are some of your strongest supporters, and possibly your strongest hater too, the Skehans. Balance-magic is taught solely by Balance's High Elder and she has the only say in whether or not someone can learn it. So the support of those around you is appreciated, but ultimately useless.

She tells you to lift your head and you do.

"Why do you seek this magic?"

"To protect those I care for."

"From what?"

"The dangers that being with me might lead to."

She lifts her chin slightly, eyes flashing. "Then why not lead them away from it?"

You open your mouth, but your eyes widen when you find you have no answer.

The High Elder raises her brow. "Well?" When you still don't answer, a corner of her lips rises as well. "You would willingly lead those you care for into danger?"

"No!" you shout, almost before the last word can leave her fully. "Of course not, I just..." Your hands curl into fists. "I _have_ to go where there might be danger and I would have no say in whether or not they choose to follow me."

"Why not ask them to remain where it's safe?"

"Because frankly, High Elder," You meet her eyes boldly. "If they did, I would question if they cared for me as much as I care for them."

"What a reckless girl," You lift your chin defiantly. "I don't know what Elder Gaam saw in you. You're unbalanced. Chaos and mischief is sure to follow wherever you go."

The word chaos reminds you of an old nickname and brings a happy smirk to your face.

Seeing it, the High Elder narrows her eyes at you. "I can teach balance-magic to anyone... but not you. You are unfit for it. I will not teach you."

You narrow your eyes and the crowd anxiously awaits your response. They murmur when you get to your feet but fall silent when you nod complacently. "I respect your decision and will take my leave _if it pleases you_ , High Elder," you can't help that last bit of sarcasm.

She squints at you but waves you off and you turn and walk away. Guess that's it for your training then. Between strides, you take a deep, calming breath to help abate your sudden influx of nervous excitement. It's time you head out to sea.

Drama now over, the crowd begins to disperse, except for the Skehans who catch up to you.

"(Y/n)!" Mrs. Skehan calls, "(Y/n), dear, I'm so sorry you weren't accepted, but that's okay! You can appeal to her again--"

"No."

She stops short, her and Amelia and Tyler, and even Glynda a little, stare at you in surprise. You stop too, and face her with a repressed sigh.

"No?" she asks, and then her brows start to furrow in anger. "So that's it then? You're giving up?"

"I know when to pick my battles, Mrs. Skehan," And she gives you the sourest face for bringing up that memory now. "High Elder Strell won't change her mind about me and that's fine. I know when something is beyond my grasp."

Amelia steps forward, eyes big with hope-filled admiration. "But you can't quit--"

"I can and I am." Your interruption causes her to flinch back and the entire family frowns. "I've learned everything I possibly can on this island, so that's it."

Tyler steps forward then, eyes narrowed. "But you can still learn more magic! You can't just give that up--!"

Your eyes widen. "Who said I was giving up learning magic?"

They all blink at you. Tyler slowly mutters, "But you just said..."

"I'm giving up learning balance-magic, and with that option cut off from me I've learned all that I can from Arcana but that doesn't mean I'm not going to find all the other types of magic that different islands can offer me."

Amelia gasps. "You're going out to sea?!"

"Yeah. That was my plan all along." You grin a little, feeling a bit of troublemaker-ness that you had felt a lot when you first came to One Piece, though it's tinged with sadness. "I have to keep a promise I made to someone."

" _Um_ , but what about _pirates_?" Tyler asks you like you're the reckless idiot that you actually are.

"And the sea monsters?" Amelia adds, looking equal parts amazed and terrified.

"And the money!" Mrs. Skehan is horrified.

Her kids turn to look at her.

"Don't give me that! It's a legitimate concern. Things don't work out there like they do in Arcana."

"I'm sure she can handle at least that part just fine on her own," Glynda says, side-eyeing you.

The rest of her family stares at her in shock for defending you, of all people, but you smile and nod to her. "Thank you, Glynda. And she's right, I can handle the money. I can also handle the pirates _and_ the sea monsters." You hold up your hand and let flames flicker around your fingers, lighting up your confident smile. "I didn't do all that training just for show, after all."

Tyler's still looking at you like you're an idiot. "Oh my god, she's serious."

"But you could die!" Amelia says.

You let the flames on your fingers die and let them be reborn in your eyes as you meet each of theirs. "I could. But I have something worth dying to do."

A skinny boy's smile shadowed by a strawhat comes to mind and it fills you with conviction and strength. He had said something similar to that too, come to think of it.

The Skehans stare at you in wide-eyed silence. Then Mrs. Skehan's mouth closes and turns down into a frown, but she nods. "Then you'll need food."

Amelia and Tyler turn to her in shock. "Mom?" Even Glynda eyes her mother in concern.

She ignores them for a moment and gives you a stern look, reminding you of your own mother and you straighten unconsciously. "I may only know you so much, but I know that look in your eyes well. You're going to do this no matter what, and nothing I say will change your mind. But I will say this," She reaches out and cups your cheek, and her eyes are so worried but she's smiling. "Be careful. And take care of yourself."

Touched, your face softens into a smile. "Mrs. Skehan--"

"And I'm loading you down with food." A startled laugh bursts out of you but before you can say anything she holds up a hand to silence you. "No. No arguments. Whenever you come to the Inn you have these paltry snacks," she sniffs the word like what she's referring to doesn't deserve it. "And not a lick of homecooked anything." She narrows her eyes. "So I know you don't cook."

You shuffle your feet sheepishly and can't meet her eyes because you're sure you'll be drowned by truth.

Her eyes soften, "Which just means I'll have to whip up a few things so you can eat well at least for a little while."

You beam and squeeze her into a hug, and this time, you feel _her_ freeze. This is the first time you've initiated any affectionate touch, and it may well be the last time. "Thank you, Mrs. Skehan."

The surprise melts out of her and she squeezes you back just as tight. "Anytime, dear."

With your eyes closed, you don't notice three pairs of eyes staring at you with a myriad of emotions, or when two of them exchange a look, oblivious of and unnoticed by the last pair that remains on you.

~

Several days later, when you've finally managed to move everything out of your little forest cabin and into your ship including the pain-in-the-ass bookcase and your very first hammock (that went straight into the Captain's cabin), Mrs. Skehan and her brood arrive at Grey Cove.

Seriously, what is with the people on this island endangering themselves?

Along with the Skehans is the guy you talked to the first time you visited Port's Smithy, Eric, you think. He helps you and the others fill up the ship's galley with the food they brought but when you reach for one bag, he stops you.

"That's not food."

You pull your hand back. "Oh, sorry."

You reach for another but this time you're stopped by Glynda, who's trading looks with Eric. "That's not food either."

"Then what in the world did you bring it for?" Mrs. Skehan asks, putting her hands on her hips. "You know very well that we came here to bring (Y/n) food for her trip, and don't think I don't see that, you two," Amelia and Tyler freeze from where they were slowly trying to shift two other bags out of sight. "If it's not food, then what is it?" You move to lean against the counter and cross your arms, also curious about the answer.

The four exchange looks between each other for a minute until Glynda speaks up for all of them, "We're going with (Y/n)."

You blink, thrown by the sudden subject change and you see Mrs. Skehan looking at her children incredulously out of the corner of your eye, but you still manage a polite, "Excuse me?"

Looking optimistically hopeful, no, more like excited over a certain outcome, Amelia pulls out one of the bags she and Tyler were hiding and opens it, revealing clothes and knick-knacks, even a stuffed animal. "See?" She beams up at you. "It's our stuff! We packed and everything so we could come too!"

Your brow furrows. "Come with me?" She nods enthusiastically and you direct a sharp, probing look at the other three. "Why...?"

They must see your coming rejection, unlike Amelia, because Tyler fidgets and Eric smooths his face into stoic stubbornness but unexpectedly it's again Glynda who speaks, "I was wrong about you." Your head jerks back, and the surprise must be plain on your face because she cracks a small grin. "You're not an abomination," Eric throws her a look, obviously he didn't know about her calling you that, but she ignores him and goes on. "You just have many talents. And I'm not afraid to admit I might have hated you a little for that," You raise a brow at 'a little'. "Okay, a lot. But you put in a lot of effort to hone those talents. You worked really hard. And I respect that." She steps forward and bows before you a full ninety degrees. "I'm truly sorry for the horrible way I treated you."

You incline your head, "I forgive you," you murmur, "You can stand." She does and her eyes look brighter for the apology, but you still raise an eyebrow at her. "That still doesn't explain why you all want to come with me."

"We all respect and admire you," Tyler says, Amelia nodding emphatic agreement with her brother. "And besides the High Elders, you're the most knowledgeable person about magic." He lifts his chin, eyes earnest. "We want you to teach us."

"Teach you?" Your expression clears with understanding but your voice is still forbidding. "About magic?"

"And we want to learn with you!" Amelia chirps, practically bouncing in place. "You're traveling to learn more about magic, right? When-" Your eyes narrow. "-we go with you, we can learn too!"

You look over the four of them for a long moment and then shift your narrow gaze to Mrs. Skehan who's been noticeably quiet this whole time, "You wanna weigh in on this?"

She looks at her kids, all wide eyes pleading for her not to say no, and then looks at you, arms crossed and frowning. "I think it's best if they learn this from you."

The kids are excited at her seeming acquiesce, but you nod sharply, knowing the responsibility she's given you. You take a deep breath, because this is gonna be rough, and look at them. They're all smiles and smirks, just _knowing_ you'll let them come with you.

You tap a finger against your forearm. "Exactly how old are you guys?"

"Seventeen," Eric and Glynda answer together.

"Fifteen," Tyler says confidently.

"Fourteen," Amelia smiles bashfully and twines her fingers together.

"Teenagers," you state blankly, then ask, "And how far are you with your _physical_ training?"

Glynda and Tyler throw each other questioning looks but Amelia answers eagerly, "I've progressed really well with my archery! I've even figured out how to manipulate the air around my arrow to make it land where I want. I can hit a target at twenty paces now," she says proudly.

You say nothing and look to Tyler.

"I've been practicing at a nearby dojo, I guess. Lyn lets me practice some moves on her sometimes."

"Have you managed to floor her at all," you ask casually, looking between them.

"No," he scoffs, "She's way too good."

You hum flatly and raise a brow at Glynda.

"Weelll," She nods towards Tyler and Amelia. "I taught them everything they know, so." You raise the brow higher. "...And I'm pretty good with a spear, I guess? And a war hammer."

You look to Eric.

"The sword."

You glance at each of them. "And that's it. Okay, then, regale me with your magic."

"I'm an air-magic user," Amelia chirps, "and I can beast-summon."

"I'm an earth-magic user," says Tyler.

"Fire-magic user," says Glynda.

"Empath," says Eric, causing you to lift a brow, and he continues with, "and small enchantments."

"And you all want me to help you with this, obviously, though I'm not sure how you think I can help you," you direct to Eric. "So then, how about this?" You uncross one arm to gesture at them, calm and relaxed as you like. "Are you willing to kill someone?"

The kids jerk back like you've slapped them, varying amounts of shock and fear in their eyes.

Mrs. Skehan scowls at you. "(Y/n)--!"

You hold out that same hand towards her for silence. "Mrs. Skehan, please." She settles but she's still frowning and you turn dead serious eyes back to the kids. "The sea is dangerous, and not just because of storms or sea monsters. There are pirates and slave traders and even crooked Marines." You narrow your eyes at them. "And if for any reason they decide that you're a threat or a target, _they will try to kill you_. And _you_ have to be willing to take their lives before they take yours, even knowing that these are people who talk and think and laugh like you." You lift your chin, crossing your arms again. "You think you can handle that?"

They're all silent for a minute, until surprisingly, Amelia says, shakily, "Y-yes."

You look at her. Her hands are clenched into fists, her bottom lip is out in a pout, and her eyes are determined but still scared.

You frown and uncross your arms, stalking up to her. She flinches when you get close but you only reach down and pick up something from her bag, holding it out to her. Her hands fall loose from their fists and limply come up beneath yours, and you drop the stuffed animal into them.

"I don't think you can." You lift your eyes from the top of her head and shaking shoulders to the other three. "I don't think any of you can. So no, you're not coming with me."

"And... what? You think you can handle it any better?" Glynda bites.

You distance yourself from Amelia, from all of them, back straight and chin high. "I have before."

All of them, even Mrs. Skehan, flinch away from you before they can hide it, and that, that actually kinda hurts. Because that's a truth about the _real_ you. But it hardens your resolve. If they can't handle you being this kind of person, then they definitely can't be part of your crew.

Eric, empath that he is, feels your resolve and stares at you for a long moment and then turns away, frowning. "C'mon guys, let's go back."

Glynda whirls on him. "You're giving up?!"

"Lyn--" He can't look at her.

"No! Don't you 'Lyn' me, you're a coward!" He flinches but she's already turning on you. "And so are you!"

Your brows raise incredulously. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. You're too afraid to actually trust us."

You hum shortly, sarcastically. "Well, excuse me for not trusting my life to inexperienced children."

A tiny sniff draws your eyes down to Amelia, whose head is down and tears drip from her face to the floor. She doesn't lift her head, or raise her voice above a whisper, but her words are just loud enough to be a slap to the face, "You're just like them."

You don't show the hurt on your face, and watch blankly as she runs out and off the ship. Tyler runs after her, calling her name, and Eric is the next to leave after that, trudging out subduedly while shaking his head.

The only kid to stay is Glynda.

"You know, the reason I hated you so much was because I didn't want you to end up hurting Amelia," She glares at you and you can't hide the small grimace those words pull out of you. "At least now I know that I was right."

And _then_ she leaves. Great.

You sigh deeply and startle when Mrs. Skehan walks up beside you. You hadn't forgotten she was there, it's just... emotions.

"That could have gone better," she sighs.

"Not really, no. Not unless you wanted them to just sneak on the boat later."

"...Would that really be so bad?"

You slowly turn to look at her, but she doesn't take her attention away from where she's staring at the door her kids and their friend left through with a small frown. You take a deep breath and try to understand. "I thought you wanted them safe?"

"I do," she answers without hesitation. "But... if they're going to end up hurt either way, I'd rather they be hurt but happy." She finally turns from the door to you. "And I think... in the long run... this will end up hurting you too."

You look at her in confusion, but she just shakes her head, picks up the kids' bags and leaves, much in the same way Eric did, and the similarity makes you frown.

Hurt you. How will not having to look after a bunch of kids in possibly horrifically dangerous and deadly situations hurt _you_ _?_

Whatever. The people of Arcana are weird.

You move to put away the last of the food and prepare for your first real voyage before you Download yourself home for a quick rest.

**[Update 7 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, its people and Elders (High and not) do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat), the Reader's teachers, Mrs. Skehan, the Skehan siblings, and Eric. So does Sarah the ship, as she is sentient, but her personality comes in later and the small Isles; Ruin, Marshes, and Desert.


	8. First Matey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “the captain is supposed to go down with the ship" . "unless the first mate knocks him out and throws him in a lifeboat”  
> ― Neal Shusterman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive my horrible attempt to put humor in the chapter title. Anyway, gonna start off with some lore from the History of Arcana first...

_Arcana was once as round as the circle that all life spins in, and it was balanced. Fire to the East, Water to the West, Nature to the South, Air to the North, and Balance at its center. In between these cardinal points the primary magics mixed and blended together and every variation of it, some now lost to us in the present, discovered and mastered to second nature, and shared in the island's epicenter. The plants and animals lived harmoniously with the magic-users, and magic-users were welcoming of the people from other islands. So welcoming, that if it was decided they were worthy enough, they were taught the secrets to use magic themselves._

_One such person, was Angus Ainsway. A man so insightful and interested in magic that it was believed teaching him Arcana's secrets would only bring new discoveries. A belief both right and wrong._

_When Ainsway finished unlocking his new abilities, he settled on Arcana and studied even more, breaking boundaries and soaring to heights previously unknown. He received offers of assistance and collaboration and accepted them unflinchingly... for a time. Little by little he began to accept less and less until he turned all of them down, and this was not unusual. It was common for great magical minds to go into seclusion at some point, whether it be periodically or permanently, it was almost a tradition and still is to this day. So Ainsway faded from the forefront of minds, on his lonesome with his work and machinations._

_Another such tradition at the time was The Weighing, where people would gather in Balance and show their magic to others in the hopes of the betterment of the whole island, a festivity of wonder and pride. Ainsway also took part in this, a whole decade after his seclusion, and presented to the masses what he had been working on in that time._

_And horrified the people of Arcana._

_He showed off various examples of his work with giddied excitement while chattering happily about evolution and the advantages his experiments could have on magic-users once he got the balance right. A parade of poor, mangled, miserable beings whose horribly mutated faces, muzzles and snouts and stems and leaves, screamed to be put out of their crippling pain into the black void of sweet death, but resigned to be out of its reach and tied to this horrible existence. Ainsway waved away looks of concern, assuring that this was only the test phase._

_People raged and criticized, said he had crossed a line and Ainsway rebutted that breaking boundaries directly entailed crossing lines. They said it was inhumane and he said they were just pants and animals. They accused him of not valuing life, a grave requirement for a magic-user, and he asked them what a few lives were in comparison to being on the track_   _to_ rewriting life itself.

_His words caused a shudder through his experiments that a few later magic-users theorized was from their horror at realizing their creator intended to subject more beings to their fate, and as one they let out a haunting cry of anguish and anger. It vibrated the air and shook the island down to its core so thoroughly that parts of it broke off and sunk while others just drifted and it gouged valleys and raised mountains in the perfectly flat land. Arcana herself writhed and undulated with the pain in the sound and thousands of her people died before someone at The Weighing took pity on the wailing creatures and put them to rest._

_Ainsway was punished for his tampering with nature by having his magic removed, the secrets pulled from his mind, and cursed to wander in solitude in the form of one of the only animals recognizable in his experiments, a wolf. The piece of Arcana Ainsway was banished to was coaxed to separate from the rest by nature magic-users and distanced from the main island by water magic-users. Since he was punished, the flora of Arcana forgave the magic-users for not keeping a closer eye on one of their own, but the animals, especially the wolves, will forever remember their kin's haunting cry and will attack anyone who gets close even to this day._

_The Isle Ainsway was banished to, named Lupus for the failed genius that was supposed to be their salvation but turned into their undoing and the plague of Arcana that now roams restlessly as a canine, is forbidden to the rest of Arcana so the lonely wild madman can never talk a magic-user into continuing his work on more innocent creatures._

And that forbidden Isle is your first destination. You're not stupidly ambitious enough to put you or Sarah at stake by chasing some far away island as your first stop and end up sinking halfway there. You're a perfectionist. So this is one test of many to make sure Sarah is sea-worthy. And you _would_ have just sailed around Arcana but you always get bored quickly seeing the same things over and over again. That never really developed until John started dragging you everywhere with that excited smile...

When you reach Lupus, the shallows don't start until you're nearly upon the shore and you thank your good luck as you weigh anchor as close to land as you can. You may have control over water but you're still a devil-fruit user and you haven't exactly been in water that makes you feel drained yet and you'd like to keep it that way.

You check Sarah's structural integrity from the outside first, as during the trip you'd been checking constantly that you weren't taking water (this was your first time making an actual ship after all), flying around making sure nothing's shifted out of place to create unseemly _or_ dysfunctional gaps and the paint job is still spic and span, enjoying the sound of Lupus's wildlife as you go through your checklist and ignoring the prickle on the back of your neck as a curious owl or fox. You smooth your hand over the hull and give it a few pats before you hop back on board and go below deck. You go through basically the same checks for the interior, and then rely on Sarah herself to give you a rundown on how she 'feels' which is an amalgam of all the magic you wove into spells while you made her that interconnect and sever and reconnect as needed for her to adapt to the input she receives and processes. And yes, the similarity to a program for a computer isn't lost on you, that's where you got most of the idea to do this from.

Sarah's nearing the end of her 'report' of her first voyage, which is just her unintentionally ranting how _weird_ but awesome it was with logical and perfunctory terminology and wow you've managed to give a ship sentience, telling you that she feels the anchor is secure when she pauses, and then calmly informs you that someone has boarded the ship and asks what she should do.

You give her a gentle pat on one of her beams, telling her to leave it to you and slowly make your way up the stairs to the deck, the full moon lighting your path with a soft glow.

You pause when, still on the steps, you catch sight of the intruder, whose eyes and ears are already trained in your direction. It's a huge wolf, more than half your height, and its green eyes shine under the moon's rays while its brown fur could've been mistaken for black _or_ blond, its true color only revealed in the indirect light to be a dark auburn. It clearly knows you're there, seeing as you've locked gazes, but it makes no aggressive moves towards you. It doesn't seem to want to give its attention to anything else either, though, so you keep it engaged with a staring contest, frozen where you are on the staircase.

After a bit of that with neither of you moving an inch from where you are, you very _very_ cautiously move up the steps to sit on the highest one, the one level with the deck, not removing your eyes from it once.

You idly make a note to yourself to teach Sarah the difference between some _one_ and some _thing_.

Just as the thought occurs to you, the wolf's lip curls up, " _Don't do that._ "

You freeze even further, if you can. "...Don't do what?" you reply carefully. Talking to animals was a part of your nature magic training, but you had never spoken to a wolf without threats of death or violent injury, let alone one this big.

He, for his voice says he, folds his lips back over his teeth and shifts, hackles smoothing back down from where the fur had risen from them faintly. " _Look at me like I'm mindless. Without respect._ "

You blink at him. "Okay... But just so we're clear, was it the cautiousness or the fear?"

" _Both. Mixed with that calculating frown you had._ "

A memory of the villagers, one of _your_ memories not the fruit's, from before they acknowledged you surfaces and you think you understand so you nod, slouching against the frame of the door as best you can without giving up any alertness. "So, what brings you to my ship?"

" _I saw you out there, flying,_ " He sneezes towards the railing. " _You're a witch._ "

You raise a brow. "That I am...?"

" _You can help me._ "

"Help you," you repeat, pursing your lips. "You do know that magic has a price?"

" _Price?_ " Another faint curling of the lip. " _Have things changed so that Arcana demands recompense for their service now?_ "

Well, maybe not on Arcana but- wait, "How would you know that Arcana has never charged before?"

You never knew that a wolf could look chagrined. Dogs, yeah, so maybe it's just a canine thing. " _I confess that stories were told to me that may not have been truths._ "

"No, you're not wrong," you confirm. "But how did you know?"

" _It's a generational tale told only by those in my family called,_ " He looks even more chagrined, verging on shame now. " _The Land That Forsook Us._ "

Huh. "You know, I've never heard forsook in actual conversation before this." The wolf looks at you bewilderedly. Whoops, being back on the water has you falling into old habits... oh well. "Weird. Anyway, you're right, Arcana doesn't charge for their services. But I do." The wolf glowers. "It's the way I was raised. I was also taught that everything should have an equal and more or less opposite exchange... so, what would you have me help with?"

The wolf glares at you a moment more before getting out, " _I want to be human._ "

You raise both of your brows. "That would require a hefty price."

" _It's all that I want._ "

But for what reasons? You're not stupid. A wolf that came up with a story named _The Land That Forsook Us_ is obviously Angus Ainsway. And if it's a generational tale told only by those in this wolf's family then he's obviously a descendant. The only thing that remains to be seen is if he believes in his ancestor's ideals.

Well, even if he did, it's not any of your business to get involved in.

_However..._

"I'll make you a deal," you say after a moment of silence. You pull up Analyze and scan the wolf after entering a few parameters, confirming what you had already guessed at. "Turning you human _would_ be easy, seeing as you have a once-human ancestor, and I really don't wanna think about the dubious morals of that because on one hand there is still the possibility he had the mind of a human but on the other the curse could have caused the mind of the wolf to take over his while still maintaining his intelligence, seeing as you are fairly intelligent yourself," You shake your head, forcing yourself back to your previous line of thought. "But that human blood in you is cursed to remain wolf-like no matter what." You see-saw your head side to side. "The naturally wolf blood you inherited will probably accommodate the change to humanity easily, but the cursed blood..." You frown contemplatively.

The wolf is slightly more tense than he was before, now that it's obvious you know who he's descended from, but he still asks, " _Then you can't do it,_ " it's more a statement than a question, really.

It offends your pride, you'll admit. "I didn't say that. It'll just take me a while, a _long_ while, to break the curse. After all, it's all-" You gesture with your hands. "-twisted, and _melded_ into your DNA." The wolf looks down sadly, a human gesture, and you wonder if he learned it from his family just like that story. "I can offer you a temporary human form while I work on that, though," you offer.

He looks up and you read suspicion in the flicking of his ears and shifting of his paws. " _And what exactly do_ you _get out of this deal?_ "

You smile. "A new member for my crew."

~

You manage to give Fergus, the wolf, his temporary human form that night, aided by the light of the full moon and kept company by the sound of Fergus's clicking claws shadowing his pacing steps. He won't be bound to returning to wolf form by anything like the changing of the moon's cycle, you're not that dramatic or cliché, but he will have to spend an equal amount of time as a wolf as he does as a human. The magic is unrelenting with this requirement if nothing else and it's not the sort of thing you can find a way to work around, unlike the programming of your fruit.

Excited as he is about his new body, Fergus leaps off the ship into the forest to rediscover his limits. You follow him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself, a spare set of men's clothing in hand just in case (it's always best to be prepared), you don't plan to force them on him anyway. He's a wolf, bad enough he has to get used to an entirely different body, better to let him decide when he wants to try the very new concept of clothes.

The conservation of mass at work in the spell did a good job at keeping most everything the same. He has the same nebulously auburn hair, intense pale green eyes, and defined lean muscle that heeds his commands as he pushes himself through the jungle. Bounds more than pushes, really. Wolf he may no longer be, but Fergus will always be a puppy, apparently. Watching him run around with a huge grin on his face makes you feel a little better about doing this; even if he only wants to be human for dubious and/or possibly evil reasons, at least he's truly happy. You made someone happy.

The warm feeling you get from that fades into mild surprise as you blankly watch Fergus trip over his own legs and a tree root to topple face-first into the ground with a startled yelp. He pushes his upper half up on his elbows and rubs at his abrased nose, snarling faintly.

...Mostly happy, then.

"Just wait until you have to contend with silverware," you comment from the branches of a tree near him, having shadowed him from the air. And when he gives you a still mostly angry but confused look you want to both laugh hysterically and facepalm while sighing because of all the work ahead of you but your reactions take a back burner to the fact that there's an enraged protective parent bird diving at your face that you have to duck away from to avoid a beak to the eye.

You land with a hard thump on your back onto the jungle floor and let out an unhappy groan.

And you're completely unimpressed with Fergus's snickering.

~

Teaching someone to be human when all they have as a frame of reference are the emotions, sentience, vocabulary, and vague gestures that a wolf can only emulate turns out to be a lot harder than you thought. First, there's _speaking_ , since the magic that lets you talk to animals no longer applies since he's human, and though barking and howling _do, in fact_ _,_ work with human vocal cords (very well, _wow that was loud_ ) they don't work so well with communicating with other humans.

Fergus's first words to you are your name paired with a greeting and his second words are, "This is stupid," to which you reply with dead eyes that he smiles smugly at, but really, he's not wrong. If given the choice you too would abstain from human interaction, but alas, it's necessary for you to get along in life, so.

Second, is clothing, once he finally is able to ask, 'why those stupid constricting things are on your body'. You show him the set of clothes you brought with you to chase after him in the jungle, and then several more when he seems unimpressed with them. He pokes at a few, putting one arm in a sleeve and a leg in a pants leg and vice versa, and you let him explore them at his leisure. He's uninterested in almost all of them and seems annoyed that he can't find one to his tastes, when he happens upon the yukata you bought in Port. It's hanging up because it was _not_ a part of the selection for him and you had actually got that for yourself, but he looks satisfied when he puts it on, correctly, even, so you let him have it without a word.

Third... is life. Your life, specifically. Random things at first, your favorites, your pet peeves, proud moments in your life, you tell him it's so he can learn more about humans themselves, since you're the first one he's come into contact with... ever, but you caution him that not all humans are the same. And for a while it is that, giving him that frame of reference so he can then learn things and adapt his behavior how he wants from there, but you admit you start to ramble to the point where it turns into an almost impromptu therapy session.

Maybe that still-canine part to him invites you to share your problems, like how pet owners share their secrets with their animal companion.

You somehow end up telling him about your devil fruit, and that you're from a different world, but not about John and when you came to this world before. Your memories with him are... private, along with being painful.

Some of that pain from just glancing over the memories in your mind must show on your face, because Fergus half states half asks, "You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

And all you can say is, "I- ...yeah."

He follows you around a lot more after that, whether he's human or wolf, and you take comfort in your auburn shadow.

~

"Did you want to tell me about your life?"

A blank look. " _I'm a wolf. I ate raw meat and ran around a lot._ "

"...That's fair."

~

Eventually he puts together that you, being from a different world, would've had difficulty getting ahold of a ship like this and asks you about it, so still omitting John-related details, you tell him about your adventures in Arcana and the people you met there while training your magic and building Sarah, including the Skehans and Eric.

"...So you abandoned your pack."

You narrow your eyes at him, part in confusion and part in irritation. "... _No,_ I still keep in contact with my mom--"

He shakes his head. "Your mother is pack too-" Why does that sound like he's including himself?... _Eh._ "But I'm talking about your pack here," He jabs his finger down into the table a couple times. "In this world."

You raise an uncomprehending eyebrow, "... _You_...?"

" _Yes_ , me," Okay then. " _And_ them. The Skehans. And this Eric pup."

"Boy," you correct distractedly then raise the other eyebrow. "And _what?_ "

"These humans are part of our pack."

"Our-- You mean the crew?!"

He tilts his head, thinking, then nods. "Yes, pack should stay together."

" _No_ , they shouldn't, because they're not part of the crew."

"Why?"

" _Because,_ besides Mrs. Skehan who's not a good fighter unless it's with words, they're all _pups!_ " He opens his mouth to say something more but you cut him off by shaking your head and standing up from the table. "End of discussion."

But it inevitably wasn't. When you're out exploring the island, talking to the plants and idly cataloguing them as you'd developed a sudden interest in botany since your nature magic training, when you're stocking up on fruit, when you're chatting with some of the other animals:

"You should explore with a full pack. Better to have more eyes look out for danger."

"This would be easier with the whole pack."

"I wonder what our pack would have to say about this--"

"Oh my god! Just! Shut. Up." You whirl on the wolf, glaring at his look of puppy-dog eyed innocence.

"You wanna know why I don't want those kids on my ship? Because _I_ used to be a kid on a ship, along with... another boy my age, and it was _fantastic_." You blow past his look of confusion with more words. "Eating with the crew, training with the crew, fighting side by side and spreading _chaos_." An unholy light of unbridled glee shines in your eyes briefly before it extinguishes into sorrow. "And then that boy who was my age, who was my constant companion, _died in my arms_..."

You gaze down sadly into Fergus's green eyes. "How do you think fourteen-year-old me handled that?"

" _Pretty well considering the woman who stands before me._ "

"And how many times do you think I had to fight my own thoughts to remain upright?" you murmur, throwing him a half-hearted glare. "I just don't want those kids to have to suffer through that too."

And this time you think you've finally managed to get through to the wolf, but he speaks again once you're both back on the ship, " _What would you have done if someone tried to stop you from joining a crew back then?_ "

You pause in cutting up some meat for that night's dinner that Fergus had hunted. "Truthfully?" You resume the even motions of passing the knife through striations. "I would've made their life hell. I was a firecracker back then, nobody told me what to do." Your hands slow. "Then again, this was before I actually became a pirate so I was cautious still. Secretly torture them, then." You shrug, moving the meat to a pan and starting on the vegetables.

" _Even if it was the Captain of the ship you wanted to be on?_ "

You send him a look over your shoulder. "I know where you're trying to go with this and it's not gonna work because I was terrified of the Captain and wouldn't have done anything but meekly agree and hope he didn't skewer me with his sword."

" _But you're not that terrifying, are you?_ "

You freeze, and slowly turn to look at him, hair falling in your face and knife in your hand glinting dangerously in tandem with your eyes.

Fergus pins his ears back against his head and carefully bares his neck. " _Okay, okay, I get it!_ _Please stop._ "

You go back to chopping, a small amused smile on your face. Nothing better to make you feel important than getting a one hundred plus pound wolf to submit to you with a look.

" _My point still stands though. If your Captain had successfully driven you away and you wanted to be out at sea no matter what, wouldn't you have just joined a different crew?_ "

No, because John wouldn't have been with you. "Those kids don't want to join another crew--"

" _But if they did?_ " he cuts in insistently. " _If they made up their minds that being out at sea is the surefire way for them to achieve their dreams and got on a ship that had a Captain who didn't care as much about their crew's welfare as you... Would you be okay with that?_ "

Your lips pull down into a frown at that as you dump the veggies into the pan and watch them carefully after you add some seasoning. Mrs. Skehan had assumed you couldn't cook but it's more that you hadn't had the time, now you have nothing but time since you're on Lupus. Fergus leaves you to your thoughts now that his point's been made, curling up into a corner with one of the larger bones you had stripped of meat.

If your Captain had sent you away three- was it still three? No, it's been a year or so since you first came to Arcana, so it would be four years since John died... And you spent two years going in and out of One Piece... God, that would've made you twelve, what the hell were you thinking?

Six years ago, if your Captain had sent you away instead of shrugging uncaringly when John asked if you could join, you probably would have ended up going to One Piece less and less and eventually stopped being friends with John, let alone eventually dating him. It's a toss up on whether or not joining the crew would have saved his life or not, because even though he sacrificed himself for you there's no telling how many times you saved his belligerently reckless ass.

You not joining a pirate crew could have very well changed nothing except for setting you on a slightly different path in life... hell, you might even have ended up with a different career. You would've lost no sleep or spilled any tears for the boy who went missing before he even got to high school. No nights jolting out of bed and sobbing at the phantom in your arms, blotchy faced while trying to scrub away stubborn blood that you _knew_ wasn't really there but itched like it was.

...No memories of getting your ass handed to you on the training deck, warming up to the rest of the crew enough to sass at them like obnoxious older brothers and hearing John's laughter at your wit. No more little arguments that devolved into throwing bits of food at each other and sticking out tongues that the exasperated but amused First Mate had to break up. No staying up with John on his night watch and springing away from each other when you woke up with a mysterious blanket draped over both your shoulders. ...No innocent elation at the simple joy of John's hand in yours while you both watched the sun set over the waves standing on the deck.

Being a pirate was arguably the best time of your life. Not because of the thrills or the adventure, although those were fun too, but because of the little moments. And not even just with John. You loved the entire crew back then. Squabbling with them, pranking them, patching each other up after a battle. If you were being honest, you still love them even now.

And if... if you not being there still wouldn't have saved John, then you have no doubt that you would choose to do it all over again, even if it meant losing him because at least you'd have _more time_...

So if you have no qualms doing it all over again, even now that you're older and a little wiser, would happily endure every bruise, cut, and mental trauma just to have that experience... What right do you have to take the choice of making similar memories away from those kids?

And you have to grudgingly admit that Fergus was right. If it's you, maybe you can give them more happy experiences than traumas since you have motivation enough to spare them of it.

Setting down your fork on your empty plate, you look down at Fergus who lifts his muzzle with a lick. "We'll head to Arcana in the morning."

No matter how many intimidating looks you give him, Fergus ~~sings~~ howls with joy into the night with zero restraint.

**[Update 8 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, its people and Elders (High and not) do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat), the Reader's teachers, Mrs. Skehan, the Skehan siblings, and Eric. So does Sarah the ship, as she is sentient, but her personality comes in later and Fergus and the small Isles; Lupus, Ruin, Marshes, and Desert.


	9. Apology and Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizing you're wrong is only the first _small_ step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I burned my hand while making quesadillas but i'M TYPING THIS UP NOW DAMMIT -me, over a month ago
> 
> Okay, so slight change of plan. If you've read Dance Until Dawn, my Voltron chat fic, then you'll know that I had an update spree or whatever I called it planned. Turns out some awesome things irl are actually coming to fruition, but that unfortunately means I will probably be without internet for a little bit after, so! I'm putting out everything I have ready now before I go dark. Shame, too. I only had one more chapter of My Love, Your Heart and Principe de la Lluvia left to do.

Of course, you know it won't be easy. You can't just tell them you've changed your mind and they'll happily follow wherever you lead. You hurt them. Belittled and tore them down with your words, purposely, to make sure they wouldn't try to stowaway on Sarah to come with you. You made them hate you and now you have to make up for it.

And not with some half-assed apology either, no, because you meant every word you said and saying that you didn't or that you're sorry for saying it would be a lie and an insult to those kids and that's not your style. If you're going to make it up to them, you're going to have to tell them the truth... probably only after they forgive you, though. They won't want to listen otherwise...

Sarah drops anchor a little ways from the coast where you used to live and you stare blankly shoreward. Fergus, in his wolf form, pads over to stand beside you and tilts his head questioningly.

When you look down at him, the panic and confusion is plain on your face. "How the hell am I supposed to do this?"

He gives you a deadpan look. "How about, for one, you deboard the boat?"

You shuffle your feet. "But I don't wanna go by myself..."

The deadpan look gets even deader, if that's possible. "Fine. I'll go with you."

Four paws hit the soil of Arcana.

Grinning, you leap after him. "Oh, hey. It would probably be a good idea for you to be human. I've never seen a wolf as calm as you on Arcana so to avoid being suspicious..."

"Right, right..." From one step to another, Fergus is upright and significantly less hairy as he keeps walking towards the forest.

"Uh... Fergus?" He stops and turns back to you, raising a brow. "Clothes?"

" _Oh_... right." He walks back to the ship.

Rolling your eyes, you sit down to wait for him, starting up a chat with Sarah.

~

High Elder Strell jolts upright at her desk, feeling unease creep up her spine.

Her assistants ask what's wrong, to which she can only reply, "Something is not right..."

~

After a while of just pacing back and forth, you ask Fergus, "West or South?"

He says South so you both go South, even though you probably still would've gone that way if he said West because you are a coward who wants to put off seeing the Skehans for a while yet. So, procrastinating by seeing Bertie it is.

The people in Nature Village call out greetings to you when they recognize you and it's still just as disconcerting as last time. A few even ask who Fergus is and you tell them he's a friend who's decided to accompany you on your journey. There are a few sly looks and not-so-sly suggestions that he's more than a friend that both you and Fergus shudder in open disgust at. You see Fergus as a little brother, the kind that isn't even old enough to know that clothes are a thing you're supposed to wear in public, and you're pretty sure Fergus sees you as a naive little sister, which... is weird, like seriously, who's oldest in this situation, but the point is you're both equally as condescending to the other like siblings and the suggestion that you two could be anything  _romantic_ makes you a little nauseous. The villagers must see that, in both of your faces, because they drop it fairly quickly.

Bertie, when you finally manage to get free of the villagers and to her treehouse, just takes one hard look at him that you can see he wants to duck under and expose his jugular to just make it stop, before she invites him in just as familiarly as she would you. That is to say, huffs and walks away, leaving the door open. He still looks hesitant so you go in first.

She makes tea for the both of you, and when she flops down with her own cup, she asks, "So, who's he?"

You tell her the same thing you told the villagers, trailing off as she raises one unimpressed eyebrow. The stare she brands your very soul with possesses your lips into telling the truth without your input, "He's a wolf from Lupus that I turned human." Her eyebrows fly into her hairline and when her face twists with mild horror, you rush, "Please don't freak out!"

Her eyebrows raise incredulously to ask exactly  _why_ she shouldn't.

"I asked him to be part of my crew, when I leave, and he agreed." She purses her lips. You roll your eyes. "Bertie, even if he  _does_ cause trouble, which he won't, he's not gonna be around to cause it on Arcana."

" _That_ is exactly what concerns me! Arcana is at least equipped to deal with these sorts of things, the rest of the world? Even with that Devil Fruit nonsense, if someone from our island decided to go rogue and managed to escape us, the world could burn under their hands." She sends Fergus a suspicious look. "And a  _wolf_ from Lupus--"

"I trust him."

Bertie's words splutter to a halt and she and Fergus stare at you in surprise.

You raise a particularly unimpressed brow at him. "Don't give me that look. You treat me like your alpha in your wolf  _and_ human forms, I know you trust me just as much, and it's for that reason I can confidently say to  _you_ ," You look at Bertie seriously. "The only trouble he'll get up to is whatever I cause. He's a part of  _my_ crew."

Fergus smiles happily at you and Bertie searches your eyes for any untruth. "Fine," she sighs. "The I suppose you only came back to tell me you'll be shipping off now?"

"Actually..." She gives you a look. "I  _am_ shipping off, yes, and I  _absolutely_ would tell you before I leave so don't look at me like that, please. It's just..." You look down at your hands. "There's these kids..."

You tell Bertie about the Skehans and Eric, up to the fight just before you left for Lupus.

"So they're brats that don't know their limits,"

"Bertie," you sigh.

"Just like you." You blink in surprise and then furrow your brow.

The memories your fruit provided you with make you seem like a meek girl who did her best to keep her head down to avoid unwanted negative attention. What could Bertie possibly... Oh.  _Oh._ She's actually talking about  _you._ The one who wanted to master all th magics available to her to go out at sea.

"You're bringing them and their mother to meet me too before you leave," she tells you, not asks, and you smile.

"Yeah, we've just got to go to Balance and--" Bertie holds up a quick hand.

"He," She points at Fergus. "is not going to Balance."

Your face scrunches in irritation. "Bertie, he's not--"

"I know 'he's not', that's why I'm telling you instead of letting you bring him right to them."

"Bring hi-? To who?"

"The Balancers. They'll be able to sense right away that he's not from the main island or the Isles and they'll take him into custody. After that, it's only a matter of time until they discover that he's from Lupus and then..." She casts Fergus a long look. "Well, they're not as lenient as they were back when Ainsway was punished."

You look at Fergus, afraid and horrified that you almost lead him to his death. "But..."

"He'll be safe here," Bertie comforts, reaching out to pat you on the knee. "My tree and I will look after him." She gives him a look. "Just as long as he behaves."

He nods quickly, small jerks of his head. "Yes, ma'am."

"My name's not ma'am, you call me Elder Bertie."

"Yes, Elder Bertie."

"Okay, then..." You wipe suddenly sweaty palms down the legs of your pants. "I'll just, go alone." Yeah, it's just an apology. To people whose trust you broke. Along with breaking their spirits.

God, you're a monster and they hate you and  _you'll_ never forgive yourself how can you expect them to--

A hand on shoulder cuts off your thoughts. You look up into Fergus's steadying green eyes. "You can do this. All you have to do is remember  _why_ you're doing it."

The memory of laughter on a deck at sunset and the adventure of life at sea.

You breathe deep. "I can do this."

~

"I cannot do this," you whisper to yourself, standing at the back entrance to the Skehans' Inn.

They hate you, they're gonna sneer at you or cry or glare at you before you can even get a word out--

The door swings open and you blink in surprise. "Eric?"

He blinks at you as well. "(Y/n)? Why are you so afraid?"

Right. Empath. You open your mouth, whether to deny the accusation or offer an explanation, you don't know as no sound leaves you. You try, fruitlessly, a couple more times, opening and closing your mouth like a fish, and when still nothing comes, frustrated self-flagellating tears well up in your eyes.

Eric must sense this, and your apologeticness, and your sorrow, because he opens the door wider with soft eyes. "Come in." He leads you to your old room and tells you to wait there. "I'll bring up Mrs. Skehan when the morning rush is over and if she says it's okay I'll bring up the others to hear what you have to say."

"Thank you," is the only thing you can say right then, and he nods as he closes the door behind him.

A couple hours later the door opens to admit Mrs. Skehan and you move for the first in all that time to immediately stand. "Mrs. Skehan--" Her held up hand stalls any other words from you.

"Why are you here, dear? My children have been hurt enough."

You rightly wince at the reminder. "I'm here to apologize. With some help I realized I was being hypocritical and I'm here to make up for that."

She raises a brow. "Where's your apology, then?"

You blink. "I-uh...I actually planned to just apologize to the kids, actually, but you're right." You straighten your spine and then bow. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you and that I hurt your kids in what I know now was an attempt to protect myself more than them." You keep your head bowed and close your eyes as you wait for her response.

It comes in a gentle pat of her hand on your hair. "Raise your head, dear." You do so hesitantly, expecting a scowl or an outright demand for you to leave her Inn, and instead, you're surprised with a small soft smile. "I don't know how many times I've said it before, but you really are a good girl, (Y/n). To have been alone as long as you have," Your breath catches in your throat, only to be released when she continues, "Shunned for nothing more than because you are the way you are," She glances away guiltily for a moment. "When I first met you, even I was wary of you just because of heresy, and I am so sorry that I ever felt that way." She moves forward to place an understanding and forgiving hand on your shoulder. "Living the life you have, I can understand why you were so adamant on distancing yourself; you didn't want to end up alone again. If you can promise me, not that you won't distance yourself, because that can be a tough habit to break, but that you'll at least reach out to them more and to keep them and yourself safe while you're out there, I'll give you my blessing to take them with you."

Your eyes widen. "Mrs. Skehan-" She gives you a look, one eyebrow raised to dare you to say anything other than what she wants to hear. You give her a watery smile and bow to her. "-I promise."

She pats your head again. "I'll tell Eric he can bring the kids up." The door closes behind her.

You try to take a deep breath again, frozen where you stand. She may not know your actual history but Mrs. Skehan got a lot of things frighteningly accurate about you. Being alone is second nature and distancing yourself from everyone, except your mom because she would never have let it happen despite how hard you tried in the beginning, was a lot easier than forming attachments that would one day cause you heartache one way or another.

But she was right. The reason you ate the fruit in the first place was so you could start reaching out again, start  _loving_ again, because you had already proven that keeping to yourself was no longer working.

In his message, John had said, " _Please... don't let this ruin One Piece for you. Keep loving it... for me._ " But you can just as easily hear him change the words if he saw you now, " _Please... don't let this ruin_ life _for you._ Keep loving. For me." And then he'd inevitably kick you in the pants and make you do it anyway when you didn't listen.

Since he's not here anymore, you'll just have to give yourself a kick in the pants.

The door opens and you startle out of your reverie, still standing where you were when you were talking with Mrs. Skehan.

"Come on, Eric, what's the big deal? Just tell us alrea--" Glynda's irritated badgering cuts off as the door opens fully and she lays eyes on you. An ugly sneer twists her face. " _You._ " Behind her, only just visible past Eric holding the door open, Amelia and Tyler freeze behind their older sister as they catch sight of you too. Amelia's eyes start to fill with tears and Tyler immediately comforts his little sister as he shoots a frown at you.

Before another word can be said, you drop to your knees and press your forehead into the floor. "I am deeply sorry." There's a long, tense silence, but seeing as the only things you can look at are your own knees, you continue, "I was wrong to deny all of you the opportunity of being out at sea because of your age. You were right, Glynda. It was cowardly of me to not trust you, because I know you guys are strong. Especially together." You press your forehead harder into the floor. "It was hypocritical of me to say you're too young to have a life at sea and I am truly  _deeply_ sorry for that."

Another silence, but you leave this one be as you keep your head to the floor.

"Why?" You lift your head to meet the piercing, still wet gaze of Amelia, who had stepped out and around her siblings and friend to confront you. "Why hypocritical?"

You lean back on your heels and swallow a bit. The truth. It had to be the truth or this apology meant nothing. "When I was younger... younger than you, I realized recently, I... Well, I was a pirate." Four pairs of wide eyes gawk at you. You look down, lost in thought of the past and how to word it. "I met a boy and he introduced me to his crew and I went on an adventure with them. We were all a rowdy family, but... the boy, he died protecting me..." Tears drip from your cheeks and chin to land on your hands that are on the floor in your head's place. "...I loved him."

Understanding widens Eric's eyes before they cloud with sympathy, matching the faces of the Skehans.

"He was my dearest friend and I lost him because of the danger out there. I've only recently come to terms with going out to sea again, and that only if I had the strength I needed so that I would never lose someone dear to me again." There are small epiphanies flickering over their faces, words you've said before now making sense to them, when you raise your blurry eyes from your hands to look at them. They clear a little bit as a couple tears fall. "You guys have already become dear to me so I didn't... I  _couldn't_..." You look down again.

"How old was he? When he..." Eric trails off softly.

"Fourteen," you answer, more tears leaking out of your eyes.

"And how old were you?" Glynda asks.

"Fourteen," you answer again, shoulders shaking.

Eric and Tyler glance at Amelia but she doesn't look at them, her red eyes are on you, steady with resolve and none of the fear you're sure your eyes have. Glynda's are just as steady on you, when she says, "But we're not you." You look up at her. She firms her jaw. "I hate it, but you were right. We've never been off the island, we've never had to take a life to survive, we  _are_ inexperienced. Even less then  _you_ when you were fourteen." She glares at you with determination. "But you can give us those experiences, help us through them, if it's with you..." She looks around at the other kids and they nod at her before they all look back at you. "If we're with you, we can handle it."

Tears fill your eyes once again. "You guys still want to come with me...? Even knowing... knowing I've failed to protect someone before?"

Tyler scoffs and rolls his eyes, shouldering past his sisters to hoist you to your feet. "You've worked hard enough to make sure it doesn't happen again, so yeah. We trust you."

Those three words, so simple and said with such confidence, causes a flood to pour from your eyes in relieved joy. They trust you. Even after you were a complete bitch to them, they trust you to be their Captain. Your lip quivers and your shoulders shake as you hold back happy sobs. Trying as you are to appear strong, the comforting smiles on the kids' faces are knowing so when they all move in for a group hug, you slump into their arms weakly, relieved,  _so_ relieved that these kids- your friends- your  _crew_ , are giving you another chance.

The door to the room creaks open and another pair of arms wrap around all of you, happy sniffs that are not your own echoing your quiet trembling breaths.

After a few long minutes of being surrounded by that reassuring embrace, you pull back and smile at the kids and Mrs. Skehan. "There's some people I want you guys to meet--"

But the door to the room creaks open again then, and you all turn to it in surprise because everyone that should be there already is, so who would-?

And there, standing in the doorway with serene smiles but firm eyes, are the two Balancers who had first lead you to this Inn. The ombre robes of the younger of the two, whose smile is more happy than serene, like he had been proven right, sway as he holds out a beckoning hand.

"(Y/n) (L/n), High Elder Strell would like to speak with you."

~

Bertie's bored eyes slide back and forth through the steam of her tea as she watches Fergus pace, back and forth, agitatedly, over the rim of her cup, her head having to move a little more to each side every time as he paces farther with each lap.

"Kid, sit down. You're gonna give me a crick in my neck."

Fergus halts his steps, looking strained as he does so, but he does obediently go to the nearest chair and plunks down stiffly. "Something's wrong."

" _Nothing's_ wrong, kid. Weren't you the one that told her she could do this?"

"Not that, something else." He moves to get up and start pacing again, but with a look from Bertie he settles back into his seat. "They're in danger- all of them- I can feel it--" A polite knock on the door cuts Fergus off.

"Ah, that'll be them." Looking a bit flustered, Bertie sets her tea aside and levers herself up, headed for the door.

It can't be (Y/n) and the others, he would smell if it was them, so Fergus knows it must be someone else that Elder Bertie had to have been expecting and tries to be as human as possible. The best way to do that is to force himself to remain where he is instead of hiding. When he had stolen one of the meals Mrs. Skehan had made for (Y/n) and she had found him guiltily hiding down in the ship's brig, after telling him that it was fine she said with great amusement that his puppy dog pouting had outed him as the culprit when he asked her how she knew. So he's not hiding, he has nothing to be guilty about. He's just a human visiting his human friend.

His shoulders are up to his ears and his foot wags nervously.

When Bertie opens the door, two nature-magic users are waiting behind it, and behind them, an old ancient husk of a person that looks like they were pried from one of the trees outside, their eyes; one leafy green, one dirt brown; are already locked right on to Fergus.

~

Smack dab in the middle of Balance, there is a huge circle of earth that is softer than any kind of carpet you've ever felt. Not that you're barefoot now, like the Balancers choose to be every moment of everyday, but just by looking at it, you can tell it's soft. In this circle are random pieces of furniture,a couple of desks, a table, some chairs, like someone just abandoned perfectly good- antique, even- pieces of woodworking art to be damaged by the elements. Miraculously, they haven't. But that's more due to this being the Balancers base of operation than any real miracle.

This was actually where you went to ask High Elder Strell to teach you balance-magic, right here in front of this modest chair that you, the Skehans, and Eric now sit on the ground in front of, that she is- again- sitting ramrod straight in like it's  _the_ most uncomfortable chair in the world but her sense of duty won't allow her to complain about it. Though you think the light scowl on her face is more due to your presence than any chair.

"(Y/n)," Wow, she bothered to learn your name. You don't know if you should be pleasantly surprised or worried. Her eyes drift from you to flit searchingly over the Skehans and Eric, filling you with unease, but she dismisses them quickly enough when she apparently doesn't find what she's looking for. "Where is it?"

You blink in confusion.

Her uncomfortable scowl deepens into annoyance. "Where is it?" she asks more insistently.

You put on a half-genuine show of searching your person for things she could want from you, because seriously, what? "Um...?"

"The wolf," she grits out impatiently.

"The wolf..." you drawl out uncomprehendingly when you know who she was talking about the moment she said it. "Of Wall street?" you ask, gaining confused looks from everyone. "Didn't he get arrested for some kind of fraud? I never did take economics."

"The wolf you stole from Lupus," High Elder Strell drones, not up to play any games.

There are gasps from the two youngest and Mrs. Skehan but you feel all their eyes on you. "(Y/n)," Mrs. Skehan berates, "You went to the forbidden Isle?"

You eyes High Elder Strell and then admit freely, "Yeah. It was the closest island that was still a fair distance away for my first voyage."

High Elder Strell looks mollified at your admission and cuts off further reprimanding from Mrs. Skehan with a wave of her hand. "And the wolf?" she prompts.

You widen your eyes innocently. "What wolf? Do you need a wolf? There's plenty here on the main island, I'm sure they'd love to help you."

An expression of supreme annoyance crosses High Elder Strell's face.

"Ohhh, that's right," Any attempt to hide your grin would just fail, so you make it seem like you're smiling at the fact that you remembered at all instead of  _what_ you just remembered. "The wolves  _really_ don't like you balancers, huh? Avoid you at every turn when they at least show up to warn other Arcanians away from their territory-"

"Enough--"

"But why would you even need a wolf anyway? I mean, you were pretty complacent with them ignoring you before-"

"I said, that's enou--"

"Unless it's the fact that this wolf I supposedly brought is from Lupus--"

"BE SILENT, YOU LESSER WITCH!!"

You, Eric, and the Skehans stare at High Elder Strell in surprise while she glares at you with undisguised disdain as she pants for breath after her outburst.

She had shot forward to the edge of her seat to get her voice to be heard over yours and her robes had skewed as a result. She scoots back in her chair and straightens them now that she has control of the conversation again. "Til," she calls, and the younger of the two balancers that had come to escort all of you here steps forward eagerly, not at all bothered and maybe a little happy with the High Elder's loud words. "Put them in holding," She gestures to the six of you. "If the wolf hasn't killed her yet, that means it's loyal to her and will come for her eventually. We'll have it then."

Your eyes narrow in defiant rage. No one will lay a hand on Fergus if you could help it. Strell doesn't notice, getting up from her chair and mind already on other things.

Til calls her attention back, though, voice anticipatory as he asks, "We'll kill all of them once we have the wolf, though, right?"

You, Eric, and the Skehans gape at the balancer,  _the upholder and one of the safeguards of life_ , in horror and shock. Horror and shock that only intensifies as Head Balancer, High Elder Strell, replies, "Of course. We'll have no use for them then."

The most jarring part of it, for you, is that her eyes are void of any maliciousness or satisfaction when she says it.

But there isn't any sadness or regret either.

~

Fergus is in the middle of Nature, and around him are all the nature-magic users currently in the village. What really has him on edge, though, are the pack of wolves in front of him.

Main island wolves.

Do they know who he is? Are they here for his death? Of course they do, of course they  _are_ , why else would they be here? Fergus braces himself for a fight.

" _Peace,_ " the alpha tells him, " _We're not here for your blood._ "

The tense line of his shoulders loosens in surprise and he stretches out his fingers that had curled into fists, but as soon as one straightens it curls back up again. " _But you are here for me,_ " he growls warily.

" _We're here for your help._ "

That's what manages to slacken his fists completely. He looks at the wolves and the villagers in utter confusion. " _My help? Why...?_ "

" _First, you must know the truth. Your ancestor's memories were altered, so what you know is not what happened._ "

" _What--?_ "

" _Ainsway was coerced and framed._ "

The words knock the breath out of Fergus. "What?"

The alpha paws the air towards the tree-like human. " _He was_ _there. Every wolf on the island knows the truth because of him, because he understood the last cry of the broken wolf._ "

Fergus's eyes snap to them. "You..."

" _You'll only understand him as a wolf,_ " the alpha tells him.

He shifts without hesitance. " _What did they say?_ " his pain and guilt are clearly heard in his pleading whine.

The human is silent for a moment as they stare down at Fergus, and then a voice that sets his fur on end all down his spine whispers in his mind with a voice heavy with age, "They howled the balancers betrayal. They howled the trickery they used to get Ainsway to do what they wanted. They howled the indifference in their eyes as they watched Ainsway twist them beyond recognition."

" _It was the Balancers?_ " he whines in confusion.

"The balancers are the ones who lead Ainsway to that kind of experimentation. What you believe to be Ainsway's ambitions were actually the balancer's own."

" _But Ainsway was guilty! He was punished..._ "

"When the magic-user's overwhelming opinion on th matter became clear, they pushed words into Ainsway's mouth and made him believe them. The broken wolf felt the tampering and howled the truth, making the island rock with betrayal. The balancers leashed the island's movement with oppressive control and scrambled Ainsway's memories of their involvement in his experiment, made him believe it was all his own idea. They blamed everything on him and banished him so that he couldn't absolve himself even if he did remember the truth."

A cold chill races down Fergus's spine. " _The balancers can alter minds?_ "

"Yes."

He takes off to the North East, but he's stopped by a couple of wolves in his path. He tries to swerve around them but they block him at every turn. He snarls at them in frustration. " _Move! (Y/n) is in danger!_ "

"Kid, what're you doing?" A nature-magic user fills Bertie in on what she couldn't hear. She sighs. "She'll have even more trouble if she has to worry about the balancers getting ahold of you,  _think_ , boy."

Fergus turns and snarls at her, forgetting all his fear of her for a moment. " _She's--_ " He snarls again, this time at himself, and shifts back to human. "She's not the only one in danger," he growls as a human. "She went to go see the Skehans and Eric, remember?"

Her face pinches in concern, but she frowns sternly. "(Y/n) is capable enough to keep them and herself safe for now. If you want to help her, you need to calm down and  _think_." He snarls at her but she's adamant. "We're with you." All the nature magic-users nod and the wolves prick their ears toward him.

Slowly, some of his urgency drains out of him.

"First, you might want to get redressed, though," Bertie points down at the pile of clothes in front of the tree-like human.

Fergus looks down at himself and sighs heavily as he trods over to them, "Stupid restrictive body coverings..."

~

So the balancers' 'holding' is an underground dungeon. If nothing else, the fact that they have an  _underground dungeon_ confirms that these are not nice people for you. Also, unoriginal. Seriously, who leaves their enemies unattended anymore? Yes, you're important for something else so you have to be kept alive, but left alone without any guards? Really? Do they think you  _that_ incompetent?

"How can the Balancers do this?" Mrs. Skehan's shaky question rouses you from your insulted irritation. "They said that they were going to... to..." 

"To kill us, Mom," Glynda finishes angrily. "They said that they were going to 'get rid of us' like we're nothing more than trash." Mrs. Skehan sobs and Glynda turns her angry glare on you, eyes lit not only by the small flame in your hand but also her rage. Oh, here we go- "All because  _you_ went to friggin'  _Lupus_ and  _brought back a pet!_ "

You make an offended noise in the back of your throat. "Hey! He  _is not_ a pet! He's my friend!"

"Oh, big difference, there! The point is, you went to  _the forbidden island!_ "

"Who said it was even forbidden anyway?"

"Uh, practically every history book on Arcana?" she asks sarcastically.

"Mhm, yeah, history books written by...?"

"The Balancers, duh." Tyler rolls his eyes. "They're in charge of recording the past so we can learn from it and be more balanced."

You turn to him. "But  _why_ forbid it?"

"To protect us from Ainsway's influence," says Eric.

"Which is?" you ask him.

"Trying to continue the horrible experiments he was doing on those plants and animals!" Glynda throws her hands up, frustrated. "What are you trying to do with this?"

You ignore the last question. "Were the experiments really all that horrible, though?"

You expect the long, horrified pause as all of them stare at you. You also expect the extremely loud torrent of, 'yes, it's absolutely deplorable, evil, not right, cruel' so it hurts your ears a little less than it would have if it had been  _un_ expected.

You wait until the volume dies down to wiggle a finger in your ear to stop the ringing. "Now, see, if you're  _that_ against it, and I'm pretty sure everyone else on the island feels the same, I don't think a single wolf could change your mind." They pause again to soak in your words. "So why forbid the island?"

"There's always the possibility of someone being stupid enough to be swayed by Ainsway's words," Glynda answers, setting some of her anger aside to actually think about this.

"But if they're stupid enough to fall for it, they're too stupid to continue his experiments," you dismiss. "No, something else is going on here and the balancers forbid people from going to Lupus so nobody would figure it out..." You stare at the flame in your hand for a second, then sigh. "Doesn't matter. We're leaving this island anyway, and Mrs. Skehan, for your safety, I'll take you to a different island and help you set up another Inn there. You might have to change your name, though, just in case..."

Mrs. Skehan stares at you wide-eyed and Glynda scoffs. "In case you haven't noticed, there's no way we're getting off Arcana while we're still in here." She flings her arms out to gesture expansively around the dungeon.

You meet her eyes, and then the eyes of everyone in the room while extending the hand free of flame. "Do you trust me?"

Before they said they did, but a lot has happened...

Glynda squints at you, then scoffs as she claps her hand onto yours. "You're nuts, but yeah, whatever."

You smile at her and look questioningly at the others. One by one, they all reach out and grab onto different parts of your arm. Even Mrs Skehan, who lays a hand on your shoulder while looking up at you with worry. "I hope you know what you're doing, dear."

"Don't worry," you reassure her. "Just hold tight and close your eyes," you bid everyone.

With a few dubious looks, they do, and you snuff out your fire now that it's no longer needed, lowering your voice to a breath of a whisper, "Mi-chan?"

A listening beep.

"Transfer us outside Nature Village." You let your eyes fall closed as well when the first pixels start to evaporate your toes.

~

When you reform, you check over everyone quickly to make sure they're okay before you tell them it's okay to open their eyes. They do, and gawk at their surroundings for a bit before gaping at you.

You shrug, "Magic."

Amelia's eyes practically sparkle with her admiration... actually, they are sparkling, that's still so weird, you have to get used to how animated expressions here are. "I have so many questions," she breathes in excitement.

You pat her head. "Save them until we're all safe  _off_ the island."

"Where are we, anyway?" Glynda asks.

"Still on Arcana. Nature should be just past those trees," You point to a cluster of monoliths a few lengths away.

All of you make your way there and you push aside some plants that have made their homes near the base of the trees to peer out at the village, and pause when you see no one wandering around.

"Where is everyone?"

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Skehan asks.

"There's usually a lot more people out and about- there  _were_ a lot of people around when I left here not too long ago, where did they all go?"

"Why do we care?" Glynda asks. "Let's just do whatever we have to do here and get off this stupid island."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Guesses I'm right, she says,"

You motion the others through ahead of you, keeping an eye out while offering a hand up. At the end of the line, Mrs. Skehan grasps your hand and while making sure she doesn't trip, you notice her downcast expression. You don't say anything while helping her, but you make note of it.

You wave for the others to follow you then, and skirt the edge of the village, still feeling something off. When you see the out of place autumn leaves of Bertie's tree, you point to it. "That's where we're headed." You make a direct path towards it now that you've got it in sight and walk around a couple of other trees to cut straight through the middle of the village--

You screech to a halt when you see all the people there. And in the middle of them-

"Fergus?! Why the hell are you stripping in front of a bunch of people?!"

Fergus and everyone around him turns to you and your posse. Behind you, you hear the gentle slaps of shielding hands over two pairs of innocent eyes.

Heedless of his state of undress, Fergus looks delighted to see you. "(Y/n)! The balancers didn't get you!"

"Well, they did, actually- but wait, how do you know the balancers are shady?"

~

"High Elder Strell, the bait and her companions have escaped!" Til informs with confused frustration.

Strell's violet eyes narrow. "Gaam. We should have gotten rid of them sooner. Get together as many able-bodied balancers as you can, we're leveling Nature."

"Yes, ma'am!"

**[Update 9 Complete!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One Piece and its characters do not belong to me, they belong to The Great Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Thank you so much for, in my opinion, one of time's greatest fantasy adventures.
> 
> Arcana, its villages, its people and Elders (High and not) do belong to me. Especially Elder Bertie (stubborn old bat), the Reader's teachers, Mrs. Skehan, the Skehan siblings, and Eric. So does Sarah the ship, as she is sentient, but her personality comes in later and Fergus and the small Isles; Lupus, Ruin, Marshes, and Desert.


End file.
